After eliminating an Austrian army during the Ulm Campaign, French forces seized Vienna in November 1805, the Austrians avoided further conflict until the arrival of the Russians bolstered Allied numbers. Napoleon sent his army north in pursuit of the Allies, but then ordered his forces to retreat so he could feign a grave weakness. Desperate to lure the Allies into battle, Napoleon gave every indication in the days preceding the engagement that the French army was in a pitiful state, even abandoning the dominant Pratzen Heights near Austerlitz, he deployed the French army below the Pratzen Heights and deliberately weakened his right flank, enticing the Allies to launch a major assault there in the hopes of rolling up the whole French line. A forced march from Vienna by Marshal Davout and his III Corps plugged the gap left by Napoleon just in time. Meanwhile, the heavy Allied deployment against the French right weakened the allied center on the Pratzen Heights, which was viciously attacked by the IV Corps of Marshal Soult, with the Allied center demolished, the French swept through both enemy flanks and sent the Allies fleeing chaotically, capturing thousands of prisoners in the process.

The Allied disaster significantly shook the faith of Emperor Francis in the British-led war effort. France and Austria agreed to an armistice immediately and the Treaty of Pressburg followed shortly after, on 26 December. Pressburg took Austria out of both the war and the Coalition while reinforcing the earlier treaties of Campo Formio and of Lunéville between the two powers, the treaty confirmed the Austrian loss of lands in Italy and Bavaria to France, and in Germany to Napoleon's German allies. It also imposed an indemnity of 40 million francs on the defeated Habsburgs and allowed the fleeing Russian troops free passage through hostile territories and back to their home soil. Critically, victory at Austerlitz permitted the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine, a collection of German states intended as a buffer zone between France and Central Europe, the Confederation rendered the Holy Roman Empire virtually useless, so the latter collapsed in 1806 after Francis abdicated the imperial throne, keeping Francis I of Austria as his only official title. These achievements, however, did not establish a lasting peace on the continent. Prussian worries about growing French influence in Central Europe sparked the War of the Fourth Coalition in 1806.

Europe had been in turmoil since the start of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1792; in 1797, after five years of war, the French Republic subdued the First Coalition, an alliance of Austria, Prussia, Great Britain, Spain, and various Italian states. A Second Coalition, led by Britain, Austria and Russia, and including the Ottoman Empire, Portugal and Naples, was formed in 1798, but by 1801, this too had been defeated, leaving Britain the only opponent of the new French Consulate. In March 1802, France and Britain agreed to end hostilities under the Treaty of Amiens, for the first time in ten years, all of Europe was at peace.

But many problems persisted between the two sides, making implementation of the treaty increasingly difficult, the British government resented having to return the Cape Colony and most of the Dutch West Indian islands to the Batavian Republic. Napoleon was angry that British troops had not evacuated the island of Malta,[7] the tense situation only worsened when Napoleon sent an expeditionary force to crush the Haitian Revolution.[8] In May 1803, Britain declared war on France.

In December 1804, an Anglo-Swedish agreement led to the creation of the Third Coalition. British Prime Minister William Pitt spent 1804 and 1805 in a flurry of diplomatic activity geared towards forming a new coalition against France, and by April 1805, Britain and Russia had signed an alliance.[9] Having been defeated twice in recent memory by France, and being keen on revenge, Austria joined the coalition a few months later.[10]

Before the formation of the Third Coalition, Napoleon had assembled an invasion force, called the Armée d'Angleterre (Army of England) around six camps at Boulogne in Northern France, he intended to use this invasion force to strike at England, and was so confident of success that he had commemorative medals struck to celebrate the conquest of the English.[11] Although they never invaded, Napoleon's troops received careful and invaluable training for any possible military operation. Boredom among the troops occasionally set in, but Napoleon paid many visits and conducted lavish parades in order to boost morale.[12]

The men at Boulogne formed the core for what Napoleon would later call La Grande Armée, at the start, this French army had about 200,000 men organized into seven corps, which were large field units that contained 36 to 40 cannon each and were capable of independent action until other corps could come to the rescue.[13] A single corps (properly situated in a strong defensive position) could survive at least a day without support, giving the Grande Armée countless strategic and tactical options on every campaign.

In addition to these forces, Napoleon created a cavalry reserve of 22,000 organized into two cuirassierdivisions, four mounted dragoon divisions, one division of dismounted dragoons and one of light cavalry, all supported by 24 artillery pieces.[13] By 1805, the Grande Armée had grown to a force of 350,000 men,[14] who were well equipped, well trained, and led by competent officers.

The Russian army in 1805 had many characteristics of Ancien Régime organization. There was no permanent formation above the regimental level, and senior officers were mostly recruited from aristocratic circles; commissions were generally given to the highest bidder, regardless of competence. The Russian infantry was considered one of the most hardy in Europe, however, and there was fine Russian artillery, manned by trained professional soldiers, who regularly fought hard to prevent their pieces from falling into enemy hands.[15]

Archduke Charles, brother of the Austrian Emperor, had started to reform the Austrian army in 1801 by taking away power from the Hofkriegsrat, the military-political council responsible for the armed forces.[16] Charles was Austria's best field commander,[17] but he was unpopular at court and lost much influence when, against his advice, Austria decided to go to war with France. Karl Mack became the new main commander in Austria's army, instituting reforms on the eve of the war that called for a regiment to be composed of four battalions of four companies, rather than three battalions of six companies.[18][19] Austrian cavalry was considered the best in Europe, and one of the best of the time anywhere.[18]

In August 1805, Napoleon, Emperor of the French since December of the previous year, turned his sights from the English Channel to the Rhine in order to deal with the new Austrian and Russian threats. On 25 September after a feverish march in great secrecy, 200,000 French troops began to cross the Rhine on a front of 260 km (160 mi).[20][21] Mack had gathered the greater part of the Austrian army at the fortress of Ulm in Swabia (modern day southern Germany).

Napoleon swung his forces southward in a wheeling movement that put the French at the Austrian rear, the Ulm Maneuver was well-executed and on 20 October Mack and 23,000 Austrian troops surrendered at Ulm, bringing the number of Austrian prisoners of the campaign to 60,000.[21] Although this spectacular victory was soured by the defeat of the Franco-Spanish fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar the following day, French success on land continued as Vienna fell in November, the French gained 100,000 muskets, 500 cannons, and intact bridges across the Danube.[22]

Meanwhile, Russian delays prevented them from saving the Austrian armies; the Russians then withdrew to the northeast, to await reinforcements and link up with surviving Austrian units. Tsar Alexander I appointed general Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov commander-in-chief of the combined Russo-Austrian force, on 9 September 1805, Kutuzov arrived at the battlefield, quickly contacting Francis I of Austria and his courtiers to discuss strategy and logistics. Under pressure from Kutuzov, the Austrians agreed to supply munitions and weapons in a timely manner. Kutuzov also spotted shortcomings in the Austrian defense plan, which he called "very dogmatic." He objected to Austrian annexation of the land recently under Napoleon's control, because this would make the local people distrust the allied force.[23]

The French followed after Kutuzov, but soon found themselves in a difficult position. Prussian intentions were unknown and could be hostile, the Russian and Austrian armies had converged, and French lines of communication were extremely long, requiring strong garrisons to keep them open. Napoleon realized that to capitalize on the success at Ulm, he had to force the Allies to battle and defeat them.[24]

On the Russian side, Kutuzov also realized Napoleon needed to do battle; so instead of clinging to the "suicidal" Austrian defense plan, Kutuzov decided to retreat. He ordered Pyotr Bagration to contain the French at Vienna with 600 soldiers, and instructed Bagration to accept Murat's ceasefire proposal so that the Allied Army could have more time to retreat, it was later discovered that the proposal was false and had been used in order to launch a surprise attack on Vienna. Nonetheless, Bagration was able to hold off the French assault for a time by negotiating an armistice with Murat, thereby providing Kutuzov time to position himself with the Russian rearguard near Hollabrunn.

Murat initially refrained from an attack, believing the entire Russian army stood before him. Napoleon soon realized Murat's mistakes and ordered him to pursue quickly; but the allied army had already retreated to Olmutz.[23] According to Kutuzov's plan, the Allies would retreat further to the Carpathian region[25] and "at Galicia, I will bury the French."[23]

Napoleon did not stay still, the French Emperor decided to set a psychological trap in order to lure the Allies out. Days before any fighting, Napoleon had been giving the impression that his army was weak and that he desired a negotiated peace.[26] About 53,000 French troops—including Soult, Lannes and Murat's forces—were assigned to take Austerlitz and the Olmutz road, occupying the enemy's attention, the Allied forces, numbering about 89,000, seemed far superior and would be tempted to attack the outnumbered French army. However, the Allies did not know that Bernadotte, Mortier and Davout were already within the supported distance, and could be called in by forced marches from Iglau and Vienna respectively, raising the French number to 75,000 troops.[27]

Napoleon's lure did not stop at that, on 25 November, General Savary was sent to the Allied headquarters at Olmutz to deliver Napoleon's message expressing his desire to avoid a battle, while secretly examining the Allied forces' situation. As expected, the overture was seen as a sign of weakness. When Francis I offered an armistice on the 27th, Napoleon accepted enthusiastically, on the same day, Napoleon ordered Soult to abandon both Austerlitz and the Pratzen Heights and, while doing so, to create an impression of chaos during the retreat that would induce the enemy to occupy the Heights.

The next day (28 November), the French Emperor requested a personal interview with Alexander I and received a visit from the Tsar's most impetuous aide, Count Dolgorouki, the meeting was another part of the trap, as Napoleon intentionally expressed anxiety and hesitation to his opponents. Dolgorouki reported to the Tsar an additional indication of French weakness.[27][28]

The plan was successful. Many of the Allied officers, including the Tsar's aides and the Austrian Chief of Staff Franz von Weyrother, strongly supported an immediate attack and appeared to sway Tsar Alexander.[28] Kutuzov's plan to retreat further to the Carpathian region was rejected, and the Allied forces soon fell into Napoleon's trap.

The battle began with the French army outnumbered. Napoleon had some 72,000 men and 157 guns for the impending battle, with about 7,000 troops under Davout still far to the south in the direction of Vienna,[29][30] the Allies had about 85,000 soldiers, seventy percent of them Russian, and 318 guns.[29]

At first, Napoleon was not totally confident of victory; in a letter written to Minister of Foreign Affairs Talleyrand, Napoleon requested Talleyrand not tell anyone about the upcoming battle because he did not want to disturb Empress Joséphine. According to Frederick C. Schneid, the French Emperor's chief worry was how he could explain to Joséphine a French defeat.[31]

The battle took place about six miles (ten kilometers) southeast of the town of Brno, between that town and Austerlitz (Czech: Slavkov u Brna) in what is now the Czech Republic. The northern part of the battlefield was dominated by the 700-foot (210-meter) Santon Hill and the 880-foot (270-meter) Zuran (Žuráň) Hill, both overlooking the vital Olomouc/Brno road, which was on an east/west axis. To the west of these two hills was the village of Bellowitz (Bedřichovice), and between them the Bosenitz (Roketnice) stream went south to link up with the Goldbach (Říčka) stream, the latter flowing by the villages of Kobelnitz (Kobylnice), Sokolnitz (Sokolnice), and Telnitz (Telnice).

The centrepiece of the entire area was the Pratzen (Prace) Heights, a gently sloping hill about 35 to 40 feet (10 to 12 meters) in height. An aide noted that Napoleon repeatedly told his marshals, "Gentlemen, examine this ground carefully, it is going to be a battlefield; you will have a part to play upon it."[32]

Allied (red) and French (blue) deployments at 1800 hours on 1 December 1805

An Allied council met on 1 December to discuss proposals for the battle. Most of the Allied strategists had two fundamental ideas in mind: making contact with the enemy and securing the southern flank that held the communication line to Vienna, although the Tsar and his immediate entourage pushed hard for a battle, Emperor Francis of Austria was more cautious and, as mentioned, he was seconded by Kutuzov, the Commander-in-chief of the Russians and the Allied troops.[33] The pressure to fight from the Russian nobles and the Austrian commanders, however, was too strong, and the Allies adopted the plan of the Austrian Chief-of-Staff, Franz von Weyrother,[33] this called for a main drive against the French right flank, which the Allies noticed was lightly guarded, and diversionary attacks against the French left. The Allies deployed most of their troops into four columns that would attack the French right, the Russian Imperial Guard was held in reserve while Russian troops under Bagration guarded the Allied right. The Russian Tsar rudely stripped the authority of Commander-in-chief M. I. Kutuzov and gave it to Franz von Weyrother; in the battle, Kutuzov could only command the IV Corps of the Allied army, although he was still the de facto commander because the Tsar was afraid to take over in case his favoured plan failed.[23]

Napoleon was hoping that the Allied forces would attack, and to encourage them, he deliberately weakened his right flank,[34] on 28 November Napoleon met with his marshals at Imperial Headquarters, who informed him of their qualms about the forthcoming battle. He shrugged off their suggestion of retreat.[35]

Napoleon's plan envisaged that the Allies would throw many troops to envelop his right flank in order to cut the French communication line from Vienna,[23] as a result, the Allies' centre and left flank would be exposed and become vulnerable.[36] To encourage them to do so, Napoleon abandoned the strategic position on the Pratzen Heights, faking the weakness of his forces and his own caution.[35][36] Meanwhile, Napoleon's main force was to be concealed in a dead ground opposite the Heights.[37] According to the plan, the French troops would attack and recapture the Pratzen Heights, then from the Heights they would launch a decisive assault to the center of the Allied army, cripple them, and encircle them from the rear.[23][36]

If the Russian force leaves the Pratzen Heights in order to go to the right side, they will certainly be defeated.

— Napoleon

The massive thrust through the Allied centre was conducted by 16,000 troops of Soult's IV Corps. IV Corps' position was cloaked by dense mist during the early stage of the battle; in fact how long the mist lasted was vital to Napoleon's plan: Soult's troops would become uncovered if the mist dissipated too soon, but if it lingered too long, Napoleon would be unable to determine when the Allied troops had evacuated Pratzen Heights, preventing him from timing his attack properly.[38]

Meanwhile, to support his weak right flank, Napoleon ordered Davout's III Corps to force march all the way from Vienna and join General Legrand's men, who held the extreme southern flank that would bear the heaviest part of the Allied attack. Davout's soldiers had 48 hours to march 110 km (68 mi). Their arrival was crucial in determining the success of the French plan. Indeed, the arrangement of Napoleon on the right flank was very risky as the French had only minimal troops garrisoning there. However, Napoleon was able to use such a risky plan because Davout—the commander of III Corps—was one of Napoleon's best marshals, because the right flank's position was protected by a complicated system of streams and lakes,[23] and because the French had already settled upon a secondary line of retreat through Brunn.[39] The Imperial Guard and Bernadotte's I Corps were held in reserve while the V Corps under Lannes guarded the northern sector of the battlefield, where the new communication line was located.[23]

By 1 December 1805, the French troops had been shifted in accordance with the Allied movement southward, as Napoleon expected.[36]

The battle began at about 8 a.m. with the first allied lines attacking the village of Telnitz, which was defended by the 3rd Line Regiment. This sector of the battlefield witnessed heavy fighting in this early action as several ferocious Allied charges evicted the French from the town and forced them onto the other side of the Goldbach, the first men of Davout's corps arrived at this time and threw the Allies out of Telnitz before they too were attacked by hussars and re-abandoned the town. Additional Allied attacks out of Telnitz were checked by French artillery.[40]

Capture of a French regiment's eagle by the cavalry of the Russian guard, by Bogdan Willewalde (1884)

Allied columns started pouring against the French right, but not at the desired speed, so the French were mostly successful in curbing the attacks. Actually, the Allied deployments were mistaken and poorly timed: cavalry detachments under Liechtenstein on the Allied left flank had to be placed in the right flank and in the process they ran into and slowed down part of the second column of infantry that was advancing towards the French right,[35] at the time, the planners thought this slowing was disastrous, but later on it helped the Allies. Meanwhile, the leading elements of the second column were attacking the village of Sokolnitz, which was defended by the 26th Light Regiment and the Tirailleurs, French skirmishers. Initial Allied assaults proved unsuccessful and General Langeron ordered the bombardment of the village, this deadly barrage forced the French out, and at about the same time, the third column attacked the castle of Sokolnitz. The French, however, counterattacked and regained the village, only to be thrown out again. Conflict in this area ended temporarily when Friant's division (part of III Corps) retook the village. Sokolnitz was perhaps the most fought over area in the battlefield and would change hands several times as the day progressed.[41]

While the allied troops attacked the French right flank, Kutuzov's IV Corp stopped at the Pratzen Heights and stayed still. Just like Napoleon, Kutuzov realized the importance of Pratzen and decided to protect the position, but the young Tsar did not, so he expelled the IV Corp from the Heights. This act quickly pushed the Allied army into her grave.[23]

The decisive attacks on the Allied center by St. Hilaire and Vandamme split the Allied army in two and left the French in a golden strategic position to win the battle.

At about 8:45 a.m., satisfied at the weakness in the enemy centre, Napoleon asked Soult how long it would take for his men to reach the Pratzen Heights, to which the Marshal replied, "Less than twenty minutes, sire." About 15 minutes later, Napoleon ordered the attack, adding, "One sharp blow and the war is over."[42]

A dense fog helped to cloud the advance of St. Hilaire's French division, but as they went up the slope the legendary 'Sun of Austerlitz' ripped the mist apart and encouraged them forward.[41] Russian soldiers and commanders on top of the heights were stunned to see so many French troops coming towards them.[43] Allied commanders moved some of the delayed detachments of the fourth column into this bitter struggle, over an hour of fighting destroyed much of this unit. The other men from the second column, mostly inexperienced Austrians, also participated in the struggle and swung the numbers against one of the best fighting forces in the French army, eventually forcing them to withdraw down the slopes. However, gripped by desperation, St. Hilaire's men struck hard once more and bayoneted the Allies out of the heights. To the north, General Vandamme's division attacked an area called Staré Vinohrady ("Old Vineyards") and, through talented skirmishing and deadly volleys, broke several Allied battalions.[44]

The battle had firmly turned in France's favour, but it was far from over. Napoleon ordered Bernadotte's I Corps to support Vandamme's left and moved his own command center from Žuráň Hill to St. Anthony's Chapel on the Pratzen Heights, the difficult position of the Allies was confirmed by the decision to send in the Russian Imperial Guard; Grand Duke Constantine, Tsar Alexander's brother, commanded the Guard and counterattacked in Vandamme's section of the field, forcing a bloody effort and the only loss of a French standard in the battle (a battalion of the 4th Line Regiment was defeated). Sensing trouble, Napoleon ordered his own heavy Guard cavalry forward, these men pulverized their Russian counterparts, but with both sides pouring in large masses of cavalry, no victory was clear.

The Russians had a numerical advantage but soon the tide swung as Drouet's Division, the 2nd of Bernadotte's I Corps, deployed on the flank of the action and allowed French cavalry to seek refuge behind their lines, the horse artillery of the Guard also inflicted heavy casualties on the Russian cavalry and fusiliers. The Russians broke and many died as they were pursued by the reinvigorated French cavalry for about a quarter of a mile,[45] the casualties of the Russians in Pratzen included Kutuzov, who was severely wounded, and his son-in-law Ferdinand von Tiesenhausen who was killed.[23]

By 1400 hours, the Allied army had been dangerously separated. Napoleon now had the option to strike at one of the wings, and he chose the Allied left since other enemy sectors had already been cleared or were conducting fighting retreats.

Meanwhile, the northernmost part of the battlefield was also witnessing heavy fighting. Prince Liechtenstein's heavy cavalry began to assault Kellerman's lighter cavalry forces after eventually arriving at the correct position in the field. The fighting initially went well for the French, but Kellerman's forces took cover behind General Caffarelli's infantry division once it became clear Russian numbers were too great. Caffarelli's men halted the Russian assaults and permitted Murat to send two cuirassier divisions (one commanded by d'Hautpoul and the other one by Nansouty) into the fray to finish off the Russian cavalry for good. The ensuing mêlée was bitter and long, but the French ultimately prevailed. Lannes then led his V Corps against Bagration's men and after hard fighting managed to drive the skilled Russian commander off the field, he wanted to pursue, but Murat, who was in control of this sector in the battlefield, was against the idea.[47]

Napoleon's focus now shifted towards the southern end of the battlefield where the French and the Allies were still fighting over Sokolnitz and Telnitz; in an effective double-pronged assault, St. Hilaire's division and part of Davout's III Corps smashed through the enemy at Sokolnitz and persuaded the commanders of the first two columns, Generals Kienmayer and Langeron, to flee as fast as they could. Buxhowden, the commander of the Allied left and the man responsible for leading the attack, was completely drunk and fled as well. Kienmayer covered his withdrawal with the O'Reilly light cavalry, who gallantly managed to defeat five of six French cavalry regiments before they too had to retreat.[47]

General panic now seized the Allied army and it abandoned the field in all possible directions. A famous episode occurred during this retreat: Russian forces that had been defeated by the French right withdrew south towards Vienna via the Satschan frozen ponds. French artillery pounded towards the men, and the ice was broken due to the bombardment, the men drowned in the cold ponds, dozens of Russian artillery pieces going down with them. Estimates of how many guns were captured differ: there may have been as few as 38 or more than 100. Sources also differ about casualties, with figures ranging between 200 and 2,000 dead. Many drowning Russians were saved by their victorious foes.[3][48] However, local evidence, only later made public, suggests that Napoleon's account of the catastrophe may have been totally invented; on his instructions the lakes were drained a few days after the battle and the corpses of only two or three men, with some 150 horses, were found.[49]

Allied casualties stood at about 36,000 out of an army of 89,000, which represented about 38% of their effective forces, the French lost around 9,000 out of an army of 66,000, or about 13% of their forces. The Allies also lost some 180 guns and about 50 standards, the great victory was met by sheer amazement and delirium in Paris, where just days earlier the nation had been teetering on the brink of financial collapse. Napoleon wrote to Josephine, "I have beaten the Austro-Russian army commanded by the two emperors. I am a little weary....I embrace you."[50] Tsar Alexander perhaps best summed up the harsh times for the Allies by stating, "We are babies in the hands of a giant."[51] After hearing the news of Austerlitz, William Pitt referred to a map of Europe, "Roll up that map; it will not be wanted these ten years."[52]

France and Austria signed a truce on 4 December and the Treaty of Pressburg 22 days later took the latter out of the war. Austria agreed to recognize French territory captured by the treaties of Campo Formio (1797) and Lunéville (1801), cede land to Bavaria, Wurttemberg, and Baden, which were Napoleon's German allies, and pay 40 million francs in war indemnities, and Venice was given to the Kingdom of Italy. It was a harsh end for Austria, but certainly not a catastrophic peace, the Russian army was allowed to withdraw to home territory and the French ensconced themselves in Southern Germany. The Holy Roman Empire was effectively wiped out, 1806 being seen as its final year. Napoleon created the Confederation of the Rhine, a string of German states meant to serve as a buffer between France and Prussia. Prussia saw these and other moves as an affront to its status as the main power of Central Europe and it went to war with France in 1806.

Napoleon's words to his troops after the battle were full of praise: Soldats! Je suis content de vous (English: Soldiers! I am pleased with you).[53] The Emperor provided two million golden francs to the higher officers and 200 francs to each soldier, with large pensions for the widows of the fallen. Orphaned children were adopted by Napoleon personally and were allowed to add "Napoleon" to their baptismal and family names,[54] this battle is one of four for which Napoleon never awarded a victory title, the others being Marengo, Jena, and Friedland.[55]

The Battle of Austerlitz, 2 December 1805 by Joseph Swebach-Desfontaines

Artists and musicians on the side of France and her conquests expressed their sentiment in populist and elite art of the time. Prussian music critic E.T.A. Hoffmann, in his famous review of Beethoven's 5th Symphony, "singles out for special abuse a certain Bataille des trois Empereurs, a French battle symphony by Louis Jadin celebrating Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz."[56]

Napoleon did not succeed in defeating the Allied army as thoroughly as he wanted,[57] but historians and enthusiasts alike recognize that the original plan provided a significant victory, comparable to other great tactical battles such as Cannae,[58] some historians suggest that Napoleon was so successful at Austerlitz that he lost touch with reality, and what used to be French foreign policy became a "personal Napoleonic one" after the battle.[59] In French history, Austerlitz is acknowledged as an impressive military victory, and in the 19th century, when fascination with the First Empire was at its height, the battle was revered by the likes of Victor Hugo, who "in the depth of [his] thoughts" was hearing the "noise of the heavy cannon rolling towards Austerlitz."[60] In the 2005 bicentennial, however, controversy erupted when neither French President Jacques Chirac nor Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin attended any functions commemorating the battle,[61] on the other hand, some residents of France's overseas departments protested against what they viewed as the "official commemoration of Napoleon," arguing that Austerlitz should not be celebrated since they believed that Napoleon committed genocide against colonial people.[61]

After the battle, Tsar Alexander I laid all the blame on M. I. Kutuzov, Commander-in-chief of the Allied Army.[62] However, it is clear that Kutuzov's plan was to retreat farther to the rear where the Allied Army had a sharp advantage in logistics. Had the Allied Army retreated further, they might have been reinforced by Archduke Charles's troops from Italy, and the Prussians might have joined the coalition against Napoleon. A French army at the end of her supply lines, in a place which had no food supplies, might have faced a very different ending from the one they achieved at the real battle of Austerlitz,[63] this essentially was Kutuzov's successful strategy in 1812, after the Battle of Borodino.

^French numbers at the battle vary depending on the account; 65,000, 67,000, 73,000, or 75,000 are other figures often present in the literature. The discrepancy arises because about 7,000 men of Davout's III Corps were not at the battle right when it started. Including or not including these troops is a matter of preference (in this article, they will be included as separate from the 67,000 French soldiers originally on the field). David G. Chandler, The Campaigns of Napoleon. p. 416 gives 67,000 (without Davout's III Corps)

^Allied numbers at the battle vary depending on the account; 73,000, 84,000, or 89,000 are other figures often present in the literature. Andrew Uffindell, Great Generals of the Napoleonic Wars. p. 25 gives 73,000. David G. Chandler, The Campaigns of Napoleon. p. 417 gives 85,000. In Napoleon and Austerlitz (1997), Scott Bowden writes that the traditional number given for the Allies, 85,000, reflects their theoretical strength, and not the true numbers present on the battlefield.

^Chandler p. 328. The Baltic was dominated by Russia, something Britain was not comfortable with, as it provided valuable commodities like timber, tar, and hemp, crucial supplies to the British Empire. Additionally, Britain supported the Ottoman Empire against Russian incursions towards the Mediterranean. Meanwhile, French territorial rearrangements in Germany occurred without Russian consultation and Napoleon's annexations in the Po valley increasingly strained relations between the two.

^Chandler p. 432–433. Napoleon's comments in this letter led to the battle's other famous designation, "Battle of the Three Emperors." However, Emperor Francis of Austria was not present at the battlefield.

1.
Slavkov u Brna
–
Slavkov u Brna is a country town east of Brno in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. The town gave its name to the Battle of Austerlitz which took place several kilometres to the west of the town, at the beginning of the 13th century, the Teutonic Order built a monastery stronghold whose remains can still be seen today in the vaults of the Austerlitz Palace. The first written testimony about the date from 1237. The Czech name Slavkov is first documented in 1361, the German name Austerlitz in 1633, at the end of World War II, the ethnic German majority of residents were forcibly expelled. Baroque Slavkov Castle has 115 rooms and a garden in the French style. The Palace was designed by Italian architect Domenico Martinelli, in its historic salon, an armistice was signed between Austria and France after the battle of Austerlitz on 2 December,1805. There is a historic museum and a multimedia presentation about the battle. On the main square is a late Renaissance town hall and mansion, parts of the old town wall can also be seen. Church of the Resurrection of the Lord, the classicist building with three pulpits was designed from 1786-1789 by the Viennese architect Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf von Hohenberg. Church of St. John the Baptist, beneath the church is a vault which contains the tombs of the Kaunitz family. The chapel of 1712 was badly damaged during the battle of Austerlitz and had to be rebuilt during 1858-1861, only the synagogue remains from the Jewish ghetto. There is also a Jewish cemetery a little bit outside the town, the battle of Austerlitz actually took place several kilometers to the west of Austerlitz. Public transport to the site is limited, and the landscape has preserved its bucolic aspects, agriculture still dominates the hilly terrain which has not changed much. The Old Post in Kovalovice is a period building dating from 1785. On 28 November 1805 the French cavalry general Murat set up his headquarters here, on the day of battle, the Russian general Bagration had his headquarters here. After the battle, Napoleon slept in this house and held negotiations about an armistice. A small museum is dedicated to commemorate these events, on Santon hill to east of Tvarožná village is a small white chapel. The hill was a mainstay of the French position and allowed the French artillery to dominate the portion of the battlefield

2.
War of the Third Coalition
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The War of the Third Coalition was a European conflict spanning the years 1803 to 1806. During the war, France and its client states under Napoleon I, defeated an alliance, from 1803–05, Britain stood under constant threat of a French invasion. The Royal Navy, however, secured mastery of the seas, the Third Coalition itself came to full fruition in 1804–05 as Napoleons actions in Italy and Germany spurred Austria and Russia into joining Britain against France. Victory at Austerlitz also permitted the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine, a collection of German states intended as a buffer zone between France and central Europe. As a direct consequence of events, the Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist when, in 1806, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II abdicated the Imperial throne, emerging as Francis I. These achievements, however, did not establish a peace on the continent. Austerlitz had driven neither Russia nor Britain, whose armies protected Sicily from a French invasion, meanwhile, Prussian worries about growing French influence in Central Europe sparked the War of the Fourth Coalition in 1806. Europe had been embroiled in the French Revolutionary Wars since 1792, after five years of war, the French Republic subdued the armies of the First Coalition in 1797. A Second Coalition was formed in 1798, but this too was defeated by 1801, in March 1802, France and Britain agreed to end hostilities under the Treaty of Amiens. For the first time in ten years all of Europe was at peace, however, many problems persisted between the two sides making implementation of the treaty increasingly difficult. Bonaparte was angry that British troops had not evacuated the island of Malta, the tension only worsened when Bonaparte sent an expeditionary force to re-establish control over Haiti. Prolonged intransigence on these issues led Britain to declare war on France on 18 May 1803, Bonaparte had already revived plans for an invasion of England in March 1803. Bonapartes expeditionary army was destroyed by disease in Haiti, and subsequently swayed the First Consul to abandon his plans to rebuild Frances New World empire, without sufficient revenues from sugar colonies in the Caribbean, the vast territory of Louisiana in North America had little value to him. Though Spain had not yet completed the transfer of Louisiana to France per the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso, the Louisiana Purchase Treaty was signed on 30 April 1803. Despite issuing orders that the over 60 million francs were to be spent on the construction of five new canals in France, Bonaparte spent the whole amount on his planned invasion of England. The execution of Enghien shocked the aristocrats of Europe, who remembered the bloodletting of the Revolution. The statement is sometimes attributed to French diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord. Sometimes the quote is given as, It was worse than a crime, pitt scored a significant coup by securing a burgeoning rival as an ally

3.
Galerie des Batailles
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It is an epigone of the Grande galerie of the Louvre and was intended to glorify French military history from the Battle of Tolbiac to the Battle of Wagram. 13 bronze tablets on the wall are inscribed with the names of princes, admirals, constables, marshals, there are also busts placed on supports against the columns and between the paintings. While a number of them were of questionable quality, a few masterpieces, joseph-Antoine, prince Poniatowski, maréchal de lEmpire. Adolphe Édouard Casimir Joseph Mortier, duc de Trévise, maréchal de lEmpire, Jean-Baptiste Bessières, duc dIstries, maréchal de lEmpire. Henri LXI, prince de Reuss-Schleiz, général de brigade in French service, Battle of Tolbiac, won by Clovis I over the Alamanni in 496. 4. 15m by 4. 65m Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, Robert dArtois, son of Otto IV and Mahaut dArtois. Hugues Quieret, French admiral, died 1340, Nicolas Béhuchet, French admiral, died 1340. Commemorative tablet at the end of the galerie. Commemorative tablet at the end of the galerie. Alexandre-Antoine Hureau, comte de Sénarmont, général de division, artist, Antoine Laurent Dantan the Elder. César Charles Étienne, comte Gudin, général de division, walter VI of Brienne, Duke of Athens, constable of France in 1356. Battle of Friedland,14 June 1807,5. 43m by 4. 65m, showing Napoleon I and count Nicolas Charles Oudinot Antoine Louis Charles, comte Lasalle, Battle of Wagram,6 July 1809, by Horace Vernet. Dimensions,5. 3m by 4. 65m, showing Napoleon I, artist, François Masson. 58m by 5. 10m Nicolas-Bernard, général-baron Guiot de Lacour, général de division. Artist, Jean-Baptiste Joseph Debay, le Fils Battle of Hohenlinden,3 December 1800, showing Jean Victor Moreau, Michel Ney, Emmanuel de Grouchy, Jean de Habsburg, André Bruno de Frévol, comte de La Coste, général de brigade. Second Battle of Zürich,25 September 1799, oil on canvas, showing André Masséna, commissioned by Louis-Philippe in 1835,5.43 m by 4.65 m Claude-Louis-Constant Corbineau, général de brigade. Artist, Antoine Laurent Dantan, lAîné Joseph Sécret Pascal-Vallongue, général de Brigade, Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy. Artist, Charles-François Lebœuf, Nanteuil, also known as Nanteuil-Lebœuf, prigent de Coëtivy, sire de Coëtivy, Admiral of France. Killed at the siege of Cherbourg,5. 43m by 4. 65m, showing Philip and Nicolas Zonnekin, dated and signed Scheffer Henry 1837

4.
Palace of Versailles
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The Palace of Versailles, Château de Versailles, or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. Versailles is therefore not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime. First built by Louis XIII in 1623, as a lodge of brick and stone. The first phase of the expansion was designed and supervised by the architect Louis Le Vau and it culminated in the addition of three new wings of stone, which surrounded Louis XIIIs original building on the north, south, and west. After Le Vaus death in 1670, the work was taken over and completed by his assistant, charles Le Brun designed and supervised the elaborate interior decoration, and André Le Nôtre landscaped the extensive Gardens of Versailles. Le Brun and Le Nôtre collaborated on the fountains, and Le Brun supervised the design. During the second phase of expansion, two enormous wings north and south of the wings flanking the Cour Royale were added by the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart. He also replaced Le Vaus large terrace, facing the garden on the west, with became the most famous room of the palace. The Royal Chapel of Versailles, located at the end of the north wing, was begun by Mansart in 1688. One of the most baffling aspects to the study of Versailles is the cost – how much Louis XIV, owing to the nature of the construction of Versailles and the evolution of the role of the palace, construction costs were essentially a private matter. Initially, Versailles was planned to be a residence for Louis XIV and was referred to as the kings house. Once Louis XIV embarked on his campaigns, expenses for Versailles became more of a matter for public record. To counter the costs of Versailles during the years of Louis XIVs personal reign. Accordingly, all materials that went into the construction and decoration of Versailles were manufactured in France, even the mirrors used in the decoration of the Hall of Mirrors were made in France. While Venice in the 17th century had the monopoly on the manufacture of mirrors, to meet the demands for decorating and furnishing Versailles, Colbert nationalised the tapestry factory owned by the Gobelin family, to become the Manufacture royale des Gobelins. In 1667, the name of the enterprise was changed to the Manufacture royale des Meubles de la Couronne, the Comptes meticulously list the expenditures on the silver furniture – disbursements to artists, final payments, delivery – as well as descriptions and weight of items purchased. Entries for 1681 and 1682 concerning the silver used in the salon de Mercure serve as an example. 5 In anticipation, For the silver balustrade for the bedroom,90,000 livres II

5.
Moravia
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Moravia is a historical country in the Czech Republic and one of the historical Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. Moravia has an area of over 22,348.87 km2 and about 3 million inhabitants, the statistics from 1921 states, that the whole area of Moravia including the enclaves in Silesia covers 22,623.41 km2. The people are historically named Moravians, a subgroup of Czechs, the land takes its name from the Morava river, which rises in the northern tip of the region and flows southward to the opposite end, being its major stream. Moravias largest city and historical capital is Brno, however before being sacked by the Swedish army during the Thirty Years War, though officially abolished by an administrative reform in 1949, Moravia is still commonly acknowledged as a specific land in the Czech Republic. Moravian people are aware of their Moravian identity and there is some rivalry between them and the Czechs from Bohemia. Moravia occupies most of the part of the Czech Republic. Moravian territory is naturally strongly determined, in fact, as the Morava river basin, with effect of mountains in the west and partly in the east. Moravia occupies a position in Central Europe. All the highlands in the west and east of part of Europe run west-east. Moravia borders Bohemia in the west, Lower Austria in the south, Slovakia in the southeast, Poland very shortly in the north and its natural boundary is formed by the Sudetes mountains in the north, the Carpathians in the east and the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands in the west. The Thaya river meanders along the border with Austria and the tripoint of Moravia, Austria and Slovakia is at the confluence of the Thaya, the northeast border with Silesia runs partly along the Moravice, Oder and Ostravice rivers. Between 1782–1850, Moravia also included a portion of the former province of Silesia – the Austrian Silesia. Geologically, Moravia covers an area between the Bohemian Massif and the Carpathians, and between the Danube basin and the North European Plain. Its core geomorphological features are three wide vales, namely the Dyje-Svratka Vale, the Upper Morava Vale and the Lower Morava Vale, the former two form the westernmost part of the Subcarpathia, the latter one is the northernmost part of the Vienna Basin. The vales surround the low range of Central Moravian Carpathians, the highest mountains of Moravia are situated on its northern border in Hrubý Jeseník, the highest peak is Praděd. Second highest are the Moravian-Silesian Beskids at the very east, with Smrk, the White Carpathians along the southeastern border rise up to 970 m at Velká Javořina. The spacious, but moderate Bohemian-Moravian Highlands on the west reach 837 m at Devět skal. The fluvial system of Moravia is very cohesive, as the border is similar to the watershed of the Morava river

6.
Austrian Empire
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The Austrian Empire was an empire in Central Europe created out of the realms of the Habsburgs by proclamation in 1804. It was an empire and one of Europes great powers. Geographically it was the second largest country in Europe after the Russian Empire and it was also the third most populous after Russia and France, as well as the largest and strongest country in the German Confederation. Proclaimed in response to the First French Empire, it overlapped with the Holy Roman Empire until the dissolution in 1806. The Ausgleich of 1867 elevated Hungarys status and it became a separate entity from the Empire entirely, joining with it in the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary. Changes shaping the nature of the Holy Roman Empire took place during conferences in Rastatt, on 24 March 1803, the Imperial Recess was declared, which reduced the number of ecclesiastical states from 81 to only 3 and the free imperial cities from 51 to 6. This measure was aimed at replacing the old constitution of the Holy Roman Empire, taking this significant change into consideration, the German Emperor Francis II created the title Emperor of Austria, for himself and his successors. In 1804 the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, who was ruler of the lands of the Habsburg Monarchy, founded the Empire of Austria. In doing so he created a formal overarching structure for the Habsburg Monarchy, to safeguard his dynastys imperial status he adopted the additional hereditary title of Emperor of Austria. Hungarys affairs remained administered by its own institutions as they had been beforehand, thus under the new arrangements no Imperial institutions were involved in its internal government. The fall and dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire was accelerated by French intervention in the Empire in September 1805, on 20 October 1805, an Austrian army led by general Karl Mack von Leiberich was defeated by French armies near the town of Ulm. The French victory resulted in the capture of 20,000 Austrian soldiers, Napoleons army won another victory at Austerlitz on 2 December 1805. Francis was forced into negotiations with the French from 4 to 6 December 1805, the French victories encouraged rulers of certain imperial territories to assert their formal independence from the Empire. On 10 December 1805, the prince-elector Duke of Bavaria proclaimed himself King, finally, on 12 December, the Margrave of Baden was given the title of Grand Duke. In addition, each of these new countries signed a treaty with France, the Treaty of Pressburg between France and Austria, signed in Pressburg on 26 December, enlarged the territory of Napoleons German allies at the expense of defeated Austria. Certain Austrian holdings in Germany were passed to French allies—the King of Bavaria, the King of Württemberg, Austrian claims on those German states were renounced without exception. On 12 July 1806, the Confederation of the Rhine was established, comprising 16 sovereigns and this confederation, under French influence, put an end to the Holy Roman Empire. On 6 August 1806, even Francis recognized the new state of things and proclaimed the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, as he did not want Napoleon to succeed him

7.
Czech Republic
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The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, is a nation state in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east and Poland to the northeast. The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,866 square kilometres with mostly temperate continental climate and it is a unitary parliamentary republic, has 10.5 million inhabitants and the capital and largest city is Prague, with over 1.2 million residents. The Czech Republic includes the territories of Bohemia, Moravia. The Czech state was formed in the late 9th century as the Duchy of Bohemia under the Great Moravian Empire, after the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power transferred from Moravia to Bohemia under the Přemyslid dynasty. In 1002, the duchy was formally recognized as part of the Holy Roman Empire, becoming the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198 and reaching its greatest territorial extent in the 14th century. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the whole Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy alongside the Archduchy of Austria, the Protestant Bohemian Revolt against the Catholic Habsburgs led to the Thirty Years War. After the Battle of the White Mountain, the Habsburgs consolidated their rule, reimposed Roman Catholicism, the Czech part of Czechoslovakia was occupied by Germany in World War II, and was liberated in 1945 by the armies of the Soviet Union and the United States. The Czech country lost the majority of its German-speaking inhabitants after they were expelled following the war, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia won the 1946 elections. Following the 1948 coup détat, Czechoslovakia became a one-party communist state under Soviet influence, in 1968, increasing dissatisfaction with the regime culminated in a reform movement known as the Prague Spring, which ended in a Soviet-led invasion. Czechoslovakia remained occupied until the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime collapsed, on 6 March 1990, the Czech Socialistic Republic was renamed to the Czech Republic. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004, it is a member of the United Nations, the OECD, the OSCE, and it is a developed country with an advanced, high income economy and high living standards. The UNDP ranks the country 14th in inequality-adjusted human development, the Czech Republic also ranks as the 6th most peaceful country, while achieving strong performance in democratic governance. It has the lowest unemployment rate in the European Union, the traditional English name Bohemia derives from Latin Boiohaemum, which means home of the Boii. The current name comes from the endonym Čech, spelled Cžech until the reform in 1842. The name comes from the Slavic tribe and, according to legend, their leader Čech, the etymology of the word Čech can be traced back to the Proto-Slavic root *čel-, meaning member of the people, kinsman, thus making it cognate to the Czech word člověk. The country has traditionally divided into three lands, namely Bohemia in the west, Moravia in the southeast, and Czech Silesia in the northeast. Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the end of 1992, the Czech part of the former nation found itself without a common single-word geographical name in English, the name Czechia /ˈtʃɛkiə/ was recommended by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs

8.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation

9.
Peace of Pressburg (1805)
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The fourth Peace of Pressburg was signed on 26 December 1805 between Napoleon and Holy Roman Emperor Francis II as a consequence of the French victories over the Austrians at Ulm and Austerlitz. A truce was agreed on December 4, and negotiations for the treaty began. The treaty was signed in Pressburg, at time in Hungary, by Johann I Josef, Prince of Liechtenstein. Beyond the clauses establishing peace and amity and the Austrian withdrawal from the Third Coalition, the gains of the previous treaties of Campo Formio and Lunéville were reiterated and Austrian holdings in Italy and Bavaria were ceded to France. Certain Austrian holdings in Germany were passed to French allies, the King of Bavaria, the King of Württemberg, Austrian claims on those German states were renounced without exception. Augsburg, previously an independent Free Imperial City, was ceded to Bavaria, as a minor compensation, Austria received the Electorate of Salzburg. Emperor Francis II also recognized the titles assumed by the Electors of Bavaria and Württemberg. An indemnity of 40 million francs to France was also provided for in the treaty

10.
Holy Roman Empire
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The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The title was revived in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne, some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire, while others prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning. Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, the office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently controlled by dynasties. Emperor Francis II dissolved the empire on 6 August 1806, after the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon, before 1157, the realm was merely referred to as the Roman Empire. In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the name was changed to Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, by the end of the 18th century, the term Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation had fallen out of official use. As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control, by the middle of the 8th century, however, the Merovingians had been reduced to figureheads, and the Carolingians, led by Charles Martel, had become the de facto rulers. In 751, Martel’s son Pepin became King of the Franks, the Carolingians would maintain a close alliance with the Papacy. In 768 Pepin’s son Charlemagne became King of the Franks and began an expansion of the realm. He eventually incorporated the territories of present-day France, Germany, northern Italy, on Christmas Day of 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, restoring the title in the west for the first time in over three centuries. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian Empire broke apart, according to Regino of Prüm, the parts of the realm spewed forth kinglets, and each part elected a kinglet from its own bowels. After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, the last such emperor was Berengar I of Italy, who died in 924. Around 900, autonomous stem duchies reemerged in East Francia, on his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony, who was elected king at the Diet of Fritzlar in 919. Henry reached a truce with the raiding Magyars, and in 933 he won a first victory against them in the Battle of Riade, Henry died in 936, but his descendants, the Liudolfing dynasty, would continue to rule the Eastern kingdom for roughly a century. Upon Henry the Fowlers death, Otto, his son and designated successor, was elected King in Aachen in 936 and he overcame a series of revolts from an elder brother and from several dukes. After that, the managed to control the appointment of dukes. In 951, Otto came to the aid of Adelaide, the queen of Italy, defeating her enemies, marrying her. In 955, Otto won a victory over the Magyars in the Battle of Lechfeld

11.
Confederation of the Rhine
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The Confederation of the Rhine was a confederation of client states of the First French Empire. It was formed initially from 16 German states by Napoleon after he defeated Austria and Russia in the Battle of Austerlitz, the Treaty of Pressburg, in effect, led to the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine. It lasted from 1806 to 1813, the members of the confederation were German princes from the Holy Roman Empire. They were later joined by 19 others, all together ruling a total of over 15 million subjects providing a significant strategic advantage to the French Empire on its eastern front, Prussia and Austria were not members. Napoleon sought to consolidate the modernizing achievements of the revolution, but he wanted the soldiers, Napoleon required it to supply 63,000 troops to his army. The success of the Confederation depended on Napoleons success in battle, on 12 July 1806, on signing the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine in Paris,16 states in present-day Germany joined together in a confederation. On 1 August, the members of the confederation formally seceded from the Holy Roman Empire, Francis and his Habsburg dynasty continued as emperors of Austria. According to the treaty, the confederation was to be run by common constitutional bodies, as such, he was President of the College of Kings and presided over the Diet of the Confederation, designed to be a parliament-like body although it never actually assembled. The President of the Council of the Princes was the Prince of Nassau-Usingen, in return for their support of Napoleon, some rulers were given higher statuses, Baden, Hesse, Cleves, and Berg were made into grand duchies, and Württemberg and Bavaria became kingdoms. States were also made larger by incorporating the many smaller Kleinstaaten and they had to pay a very high price for their new status, however. The Confederation was above all a military alliance, the members had to maintain substantial armies for mutual defense, as events played out the members of the confederation found themselves more subordinated to Napoleon than they had been to the Habsburgs. After Prussia lost to France in 1806, Napoleon cajoled most of the states of Germany into the Confederation of the Rhine. Eventually, an additional 23 German states joined the Confederation and it was at its largest in 1808, when it included 36 states—four kingdoms, five grand duchies,13 duchies, seventeen principalities, and the Free Hansa towns of Hamburg, Lübeck, and Bremen. Only Austria, Prussia, Danish Holstein, and Swedish Pomerania stayed outside, not counting the west bank of the Rhine and the Principality of Erfurt, which were annexed by the French empire. In 1810 large parts of what is now northwest Germany were quickly annexed to France in order to monitor the trade embargo with Great Britain. The Confederation of the Rhine collapsed in 1813, in the aftermath of Napoleons failed campaign against the Russian Empire, many of its members changed sides after the Battle of Leipzig, when it became apparent Napoleon would lose the War of the Sixth Coalition. The following table shows the members of the confederation, with their date of joining, the allies opposing Napoleon dissolved the Confederation of the Rhine on 4 November 1813. It was dissolved on 20 June 1815, on 30 May 1814 the Treaty of Paris declared the German states independent

12.
First French Empire
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The First French Empire, Note 1 was the empire of Napoleon Bonaparte of France and the dominant power in much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. Its name was a misnomer, as France already had colonies overseas and was short lived compared to the Colonial Empire, a series of wars, known collectively as the Napoleonic Wars, extended French influence over much of Western Europe and into Poland. The plot included Bonapartes brother Lucien, then serving as speaker of the Council of Five Hundred, Roger Ducos, another Director, on 9 November 1799 and the following day, troops led by Bonaparte seized control. They dispersed the legislative councils, leaving a rump legislature to name Bonaparte, Sieyès, although Sieyès expected to dominate the new regime, the Consulate, he was outmaneuvered by Bonaparte, who drafted the Constitution of the Year VIII and secured his own election as First Consul. He thus became the most powerful person in France, a power that was increased by the Constitution of the Year X, the Battle of Marengo inaugurated the political idea that was to continue its development until Napoleons Moscow campaign. Napoleon planned only to keep the Duchy of Milan for France, setting aside Austria, the Peace of Amiens, which cost him control of Egypt, was a temporary truce. He gradually extended his authority in Italy by annexing the Piedmont and by acquiring Genoa, Parma, Tuscany and Naples, then he laid siege to the Roman state and initiated the Concordat of 1801 to control the material claims of the pope. Napoleon would have ruling elites from a fusion of the new bourgeoisie, on 12 May 1802, the French Tribunat voted unanimously, with exception of Carnot, in favour of the Life Consulship for the leader of France. This action was confirmed by the Corps Législatif, a general plebiscite followed thereafter resulting in 3,653,600 votes aye and 8,272 votes nay. On 2 August 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Consul for life, pro-revolutionary sentiment swept through Germany aided by the Recess of 1803, which brought Bavaria, Württemberg and Baden to Frances side. The memories of imperial Rome were for a time, after Julius Caesar and Charlemagne. The Treaty of Pressburg, signed on 26 December 1805, did little other than create a more unified Germany to threaten France. On the other hand, Napoleons creation of the Kingdom of Italy, the occupation of Ancona, to create satellite states, Napoleon installed his relatives as rulers of many European states. The Bonapartes began to marry into old European monarchies, gaining sovereignty over many nations, in addition to the vassal titles, Napoleons closest relatives were also granted the title of French Prince and formed the Imperial House of France. Met with opposition, Napoleon would not tolerate any neutral power, Prussia had been offered the territory of Hanover to stay out of the Third Coalition. With the diplomatic situation changing, Napoleon offered Great Britain the province as part of a peace proposal and this, combined with growing tensions in Germany over French hegemony, Prussia responded by forming an alliance with Russia and sending troops into Bavaria on 1 October 1806. In this War of the Fourth Coalition, Napoleon destroyed the armies of Frederick William at Jena-Auerstedt, the Eylau and the Friedland against the Russians finally ruined Frederick the Greats formerly mighty kingdom, obliging Russia and Prussia to make peace with France at Tilsit. The Treaties of Tilsit ended the war between Russia and the French Empire and began an alliance between the two empires that held power of much of the rest of Europe, the two empires secretly agreed to aid each other in disputes

13.
Russian Empire
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The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation

14.
Napoleon
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Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, one of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleons political and cultural legacy has ensured his status as one of the most celebrated and he was born Napoleone di Buonaparte in Corsica to a relatively modest family from the minor nobility. When the Revolution broke out in 1789, Napoleon was serving as an officer in the French army. Seizing the new opportunities presented by the Revolution, he rose through the ranks of the military. The Directory eventually gave him command of the Army of Italy after he suppressed a revolt against the government from royalist insurgents, in 1798, he led a military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He engineered a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic and his ambition and public approval inspired him to go further, and in 1804 he became the first Emperor of the French. Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a Third Coalition by 1805, in 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon quickly defeated Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, then marched the Grand Army deep into Eastern Europe, France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807, bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. Tilsit signified the high watermark of the French Empire, hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, Napoleon invaded Iberia and declared his brother Joseph the King of Spain in 1808. The Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support, the Peninsular War lasted six years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, and ended in victory for the Allies. The Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia, unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade, the Russians routinely violated the Continental System and enticed Napoleon into another war. The French launched an invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the collapse of the Grand Army, the destruction of Russian cities, in 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition against France. A lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, the Allies then invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April. He was exiled to the island of Elba near Rome and the Bourbons were restored to power, however, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again. The Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June, the British exiled him to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died six years later at the age of 51

15.
Alexander I of Russia
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Alexander I reigned as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825. He was the son of Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg, Alexander was the first Russian King of Poland, reigning from 1815 to 1825, as well as the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland. He was sometimes called Alexander the Blessed and he was born in Saint Petersburg to Grand Duke Paul Petrovich, later Emperor Paul I, and succeeded to the throne after his father was murdered. He ruled Russia during the period of the Napoleonic Wars. As prince and emperor, Alexander often used liberal rhetoric, in the first years of his reign, he initiated some minor social reforms and major, liberal educational reforms, such as building more universities. He promised constitutional reforms and a desperately needed reform of serfdom in Russia, Alexander appointed Mikhail Speransky, the son of a village priest, as one of his closest advisors. The Collegia was abolished and replaced by the The State Council, plans were also made to set up a parliament and sign a constitution. In foreign policy, he changed Russias position relative to France four times between 1804 and 1812 among neutrality, opposition, and alliance and he fought a small-scale naval war against Britain between 1807 and 1812. He and Napoleon could never agree, especially about Poland, the tsars greatest triumph came in 1812 as Napoleons invasion of Russia proved a total disaster for the French. As part of the coalition against Napoleon he gained some spoils in Finland and Poland. He formed the Holy Alliance to suppress revolutionary movements in Europe that he saw as threats to legitimate Christian monarchs. He helped Austrias Klemens von Metternich in suppressing all national and liberal movements, in the second half of his reign he was increasingly arbitrary, reactionary and fearful of plots against him, he ended many earlier reforms. He purged schools of teachers, as education became more religiously oriented as well as politically conservative. Speransky was replaced as advisor with the artillery inspector Aleksey Arakcheyev. Alexander died of typhus in December 1825 while on a trip to southern Russia and he left no children as heirs and both of his brothers wanted the other to become emperor. After a period of confusion that included the failed Decembrist revolt of liberal army officers, he was succeeded by his younger brother. Alexander and his younger brother Constantine were raised by their grandmother, some sources allege that she planned to remove her son Paul I from the succession altogether. From the free-thinking atmosphere of the court of Catherine and his Swiss tutor, Frédéric-César de La Harpe, but from his military governor, Nikolay Saltykov, he imbibed the traditions of Russian autocracy

16.
Mikhail Kutuzov
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Prince Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov was a Field Marshal of the Russian Empire. He served as one of the finest military officers and diplomats of Russia under the reign of three Romanov Tsars, Catherine II, Paul I and Alexander I. His military career was associated with the rising period of Russia from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century. Kutuzov is considered to have one of the best Russian generals. He was born in Saint Petersburg in 1745 to a family of Novgorod nobility and his father was a Russian general and senator. Kutuzov began military schooling at age 12 and joined the Imperial Russian Army in 1759, Three years later Kutuzov became a company commander in the Astrakhan Infantry Regiment under Alexander Suvorov. He took part in crushing the Polish Bar Confederation rebellion, during the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774 he served in the staff of Pyotr Rumyantsev at Moldova for the battles of Larga and Kagul. In July 1774 at Crimea, Kutuzov was severely wounded by a bullet went through his temple and out near his right eye. He returned to Crimea in 1776 to assist Suvorov and conducted negotiations with the last Crimean khan Girey, convincing him to abdicate, after Kutuzov became Governor-General of Crimea in 1787, the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792 began. He was again wounded in 1788 during the Siege of Ochakov when a bullet was shot through both of his temples. Kutuzov came back a year later, taking part in the Battle of Rymnik, near the end of the war, he led a decisive charge at the Battle of Măcin. Kutuzov was on terms with Tsar Paul, but had disputes with his successor Tsar Alexander. In 1805, he led Russian forces alongside Austria during the Napoleonic Wars, the allied Russo-Austrian army was defeated by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz. Alexander blamed Kutuzov and demoted him to Moldova for the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–1812, Kutuzov vanquished a four-times larger Turkish army at Rousse and brought an end to the war with a decisive victory at the Battle of the Danube. For his achievements, he was awarded the titles of count, Kutuzov returned at the request of Alexander for the French invasion of Russia. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief, succeeding Barclay de Tolly and continuing his scorched earth policy up to Moscow, under Kutuzovs command, the Russian army faced the Grande Armée at the Battle of Borodino. He allowed Napoleon to take an abandoned Moscow, which was set on fire. Kutuzov counter-attacked once Napoleon retreated from Moscow, pushing the French out of the Russian homeland, in recognition of this, Kutuzov was awarded the victory title of Prince Smolensky

17.
Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
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Amalie Theresa was born on 6 April 1807 at the Hofburg Imperial Palace in Hofburg, Vienna and died the next day. Her mother fell ill after giving birth to her and died less than a week afterwards, as a daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor, she was born with the title Archduchess of Austria and the style Imperial and Royal Highness

18.
Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom
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French attempts to invade Ireland in order to destabilise the United Kingdom or as a stepping-stone to Great Britain had already occurred in 1796. From 1803 to 1805 a new army of 200,000 men, known as the Armée des côtes de lOcéan or the Armée dAngleterre, was gathered and trained at camps at Boulogne, Bruges and Montreuil. A large National Flotilla of invasion barges was built in Channel ports along the coasts of France and the Netherlands, right from Étaples to Flushing, and gathered at Boulogne. This flotilla was initially under the command of Eustache Bruix, but he soon had to return to Paris. A medal was struck and a column erected at Boulogne to celebrate the invasions anticipated success. Though an aerial invasion proved a dead-end, the prospect of one captured the minds of the British print media and public. These preparations were financed by the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, whereby France ceded her huge North American territories to the United States in return for a payment of 50 million French francs, the entire amount was spent on the projected invasion. The United States had partly funded the purchase by means of a loan from Baring Brothers, for his planned subsidiary invasion of Ireland Napoleon had formed an Irish Legion in 1803, to create an indigenous part of his 20, 000-man Corps dIrelande. Though the fleet-test was unsuccessful, Britain continued to be on alert with defences from invasion. With the flotilla and encampment at Boulogne visible from the south coast of England, Martello towers were built along the English coast to counter the invasion threat, in the areas closest to France new fortifications were built and existing ones initiated against the 1779 invasion completed or improved. Before the flotilla could cross, however, Napoleon had to gain control of the English Channel – in his own words, Let us be masters of the Channel for six hours. He envisaged doing this by having the Brest and Toulon Franco–Spanish fleets break out from the British blockade and this, he hoped, would draw off the Royal Navy force under William Cornwallis defending the Western Approaches. Therefore, on 27 August 1805 Napoleon used the army as the core of the new Grande Armée and had it break camp. The comment attributed to Admiral John Jervis – I do not say they cannot come – I only say they cannot come by sea – had been proved right, the arsenal from the camp is preserved

19.
Raid on Boulogne
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The Raid on Boulogne in 1804 was a naval assault by elements of the Royal Navy on the fortified French port of Boulogne, during the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon had marked out the Channel port of Boulogne as one of the embarkation points for his Armée de lAngleterre. Preparations for a flotilla to carry French troops across the Channel from a number of ports had been underway since the late 1790s. Napoleon himself visited the town on 16 August 1804 to review the troops, the Royal Navy was the main obstacle to a successful invasion, but Napoleon declared that his fleet need only be masters of the Channel for six hours and the crossing could be effected. Meanwhile, British land-based defences were under-prepared and ill-equipped to resist a force numbering upwards of 100,000 men. Though the intended departure points were known and were being closely blockaded by the Royal Navy, if a combined Franco-Spanish fleet were to force the Navy from its station for even a short while, the French invasion force might succeed in crossing unmolested. Boulogne had been fortified over the years, and a number of conventional assaults had already failed. The invasion barges were defended by a line of warships anchored nose-to-tail. New methods had to be considered, prime Minister William Pitt met with a number of inventors and amateur tacticians during the year, who proposed new and novel ways of attacking the French before they could put to sea. Ideas included sinking blockships in the mouth, releasing rocket-carrying balloons over the port at night to be detonated by clockwork. On 20 July 1804 Pitt and Sir Home Popham met with the American born inventor Robert Fulton and he proposed an assault using a combination of fireships, torpedoes, mines and other explosive devices, a concept that Pitt agreed to. A contract was signed and Fulton was tasked with working with the Admiralty to build his devices in anticipation of an assault later that year, Napoleon left Boulogne on 27 August, bound for Aachen to visit the tomb of Charlemagne, and to see his wife Joséphine. In the meantime the frigate HMS Immortalite was sent under the command of Captain Edward Owen to carry out surveys along the French coast around the port, Fulton subsequently pronounced his inventions ready, and an assault was planned for early October. Working at Portsmouth Dockyard Fulton had built several types of craft, the torpedo-catamaran was a coffer-like device balanced on two wooden floats and steered by a man with a paddle. Weighted with lead so as to ride low in the water, the operator was further disguised by wearing dark clothes and a black cap. His task was to approach the French ship, hook the torpedo to the cable and, having activated the device by removing a pin, remove the paddles. Also to be deployed were large numbers of casks filled with gunpowder, ballast and they would float in on the tide and on washing up against an enemys hull, explode. Also included in the force were several fireships, carrying 40 barrels of gunpowder, the force assembled outside Boulogne in later September, under the overall command of Lord Keith aboard his flagship HMS Monarch

20.
Battle of Cape Finisterre (1805)
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The fragile Peace of Amiens of 1802 had come to an end when Napoleon formally annexed the Italian state of Piedmont and on 18 May 1803 Britain was once again at war with France. Napoleon planned to end the British blockade by invading and conquering Britain, by 1805 his Armée dAngleterre was 150,000 strong and encamped at Boulogne. If this army could cross the English Channel, victory over the poorly trained and equipped militias was very likely. The plan was that the French navy would escape from the British blockades of Toulon and Brest and threaten to attack the West Indies, Villeneuve sailed from Toulon on 29 March 1805 with eleven ships of the line, six frigates and two brigs. He evaded Admiral Nelsons blockading fleet and passed the Strait of Gibraltar on 8 April, at Cádiz he drove off the British blockading squadron and was joined by six Spanish ships of the line. The combined fleet sailed for the West Indies, reaching Martinique on 12 May, Nelson was kept in the Mediterranean by westerly winds and did not pass the Strait until 7 May 1805. The British fleet of ten ships reached Antigua on 4 June, Villeneuve waited at Martinique for Admiral Ganteaumes Brest fleet to join him, but it remained blockaded in port and did not appear. Pleas from French army officers for Villeneuve to attack British colonies went unheeded — except for the recapture of the fort of Diamond Rock — until 4 June when he set out from Martinique. While in the Antilles, the Franco-Spanish fleet ran into a British convoy worth 5 million francs escorted by the frigate Barbadoes,28 guns, Villeneuve hoisted general chase and two French frigates with the Spanish ship Argonauta,80 guns, captured all the ships but one escort. On 30 June the combined squadron captured and burned an English 14-gun privateer, the privateer was burned and the merchant was taken in tow by the French frigate Sirène. The fleet sailed back to Europe, and on 9 July the French ship Indomptable lost its main spar in a gale that damaged some other vessels slightly, the Atlantic crossings had been very difficult according to Spanish Admiral Gravina who had crossed the Atlantic eleven times. So with some ships in bad condition, tired crews and scarce victuals, news of the returning French fleet reached Vice Admiral Robert Calder on 19 July. He was ordered to lift his blockade of the ports of Rochefort and Ferrol, the fleets sighted each other at about 11,00 on 22 July. After several hours of manoeuvring to the south-west, the action began at about 17,15 as the British fleet, with Hero in the vanguard, in poor visibility, the battle became a confused melee. After a fierce engagement in which Malta suffered five killed and forty wounded the British ship battled it out, at about 20,00 Buller forced the Spanish 80-gun San Rafael to strike, and afterwards sent the Maltas boats to take possession of the Spanish 74-gun Firme. Calder signalled to break-off the action at 20,25, aiming to continue the battle the next day, in the failing light and general confusion some ships continued to fire for another hour. Daybreak on 23 July found the fleets 27 kilometres apart, accordingly, he declined to attack and headed northeast with his prizes. Villeneuves report claims that at first he intended to attack, but in the very light breezes it took all day to come up to the British and he decided not to risk combat late in the day

21.
Ulm Campaign
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The Ulm Campaign consisted of a series of French and Bavarian military maneuvers and battles to outflank and capture an Austrian army in 1805 during the War of the Third Coalition. It took place in the vicinity of and inside the Swabian city of Ulm, the campaign is generally regarded as a strategic masterpiece and was influential in the development of the Schlieffen Plan in the late 19th century. The victory at Ulm did not end the war, since a large Russian army under Kutuzov was still near Vienna, the Russians withdrew to the northeast to await reinforcements and to link up with surviving Austrian units. The French followed and captured Vienna on 12 November, on 2 December the decisive French victory at Austerlitz removed Austria from the war. Europe had been by then embroiled in the French Revolutionary Wars since 1792, after five years of war, the French Republic subdued the First Coalition in 1797. A Second Coalition was formed in 1798 but this too was defeated by 1801, Britain remained the only opponent for the new French Consulate. In March 1802, France and Britain agreed to end hostilities under the Treaty of Amiens, for the first time in ten years, all of Europe was at peace. There were many problems between the two sides and implementing the agreements they had reached at Amiens seemed to be a growing challenge, Britain resented having to turn over all colonial conquests since 1793 and France was angry that British troops had not evacuated the island of Malta. The tense situation only worsened when Napoleon sent a force to crush the Haitian Revolution. In May 1803, Britain declared war on France, in December 1804, an Anglo-Swedish agreement led to the creation of the Third Coalition. British Prime Minister William Pitt spent 1804 and 1805 in a flurry of activity to form a new coalition against France. Mutual suspicion between the British and the Russians eased in the face of several French political mistakes and by April 1805 the two had signed a treaty of alliance. Having been defeated twice in recent memory by France and keen on revenge, prior to the formation of the Third Coalition, Napoleon had assembled the Army of England, an invasion force meant to strike at the British Isles, around six camps at Boulogne in Northern France. Although they never set foot on British soil, Napoleons troops received careful, although boredom quickly set in among the troops, Napoleon paid many visits to conduct lavish parades to maintain their morale. The men at Boulogne formed the core for what Napoleon would later call La Grande Armée, by 1805, La Grande Armée had grown to a force of 350,000, was equipped and trained. It possessed a competent officer class where almost all from sergeants to marshals had experience in the recent Revolutionary Wars. Charles was Austrias best field commander, but he was unpopular with the court and lost much influence when, against his advice. The sudden change came with no corresponding officer training, new units were led by commanders who had not been given sufficient tactical training in using their units

22.
Battle of Verona (1805)
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The Battle of Verona was fought on 18 October 1805 between the French Army of Italy under the command of André Masséna and an Austrian army led by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen. By the end of the day, Massena seized a bridgehead on the east bank of the Adige River, the action took place near the city of Verona in northern Italy during the War of the Third Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. In the fall of 1805, Emperor Napoleon I of France planned for his powerful Grande Armée to fall upon, the French emperor hoped to win the war in the Danube valley. To help accomplish this purpose, Napoleon wanted Masséna to hold Archduke Charles large army in Italy for as long as possible, in order for Masséna to grapple with his enemies, it was necessary to establish a bridgehead on the east bank of the Adige. During the battle, the French attacked across the river, cleared two suburbs, and seized some high ground on the opposite bank, the Austrians suffered considerably more casualties than the French in the encounter. This clash set the stage for the subsequent Battle of Caldiero on 29 to 31 October, on 5 September 1805, Feldmarschall Archduke Charles, Feldmarschall-Leutnant Karl Friedrich von Lindenau, and General-Major Anton Mayer von Heldensfeld drew up the final Austrian strategic plan. This strategy largely conformed to a plan worked out by Charles, Feldmarschall-Leutnant Karl Mack von Leiberich. However, Mayer convinced Charles and Lindenau to transfer troops from Italy to Germany, the original plan put 120,000 troops in Italy,70,000 in Germany,25,000 in the Tyrol, and 20,000 for internal security. Mayers revision reduced the force in Italy to 90,000, Archduke Charles disagreed with Macks aggressive strategy. When Emperor Francis I asked his opinion, Charles wrote him that Mack was making a blunder by invading Bavaria. Nevertheless, the emperor allowed Mack to pursue his course of action, fearing the worst in Bavaria, Charles took up a defensive posture, even though he knew he outnumbered Masséna. The archduke posted Feldmarschall-Leutnant Johann von Hillers 22,000 troops in the Italian Tyrol, the archduke lined the east bank of the Adige from Verona to Legnago with 40,000 soldiers and he held a 30, 000-man central reserve at Caldiero. Feldmarschall-Leutnant Eugène-Guillaume Argenteaus six divisions manned the line at Caldiero, Feldmarschall-Leutnant Paul Davidovich with two divisions defended the Adige near Legnago. At the beginning of August 1805, Napoleon gave up his plan for invading Great Britain across the English Channel, instead, he decided to move his army from the channel coast to south Germany to smash the Austrian army. He hoped to be at the Austrian capital of Vienna in November, with corps numbering I through VII, a cavalry corps, the Imperial Guard, and Bavarian allies, Napoleon committed 194,000 troops to the campaign in Germany. In training, personnel, morale, and organization, the Grande Armée was the finest body of troops that Napoleon would ever command, on 26 August, he gave the order to march and a month later his troops were crossing the Rhine. Thanks to a spy network, Napoleon was aware that the Austrians deployed their largest army in Italy. The emperor desired that Archduke Charles army not be allowed to influence events in southern Germany, Masséna, whose army only counted 48,000 troops, first looked to his defenses

23.
Battle of Trafalgar
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The Franco-Spanish fleet lost twenty-two ships, without a single British vessel being lost. It was the most decisive battle of the war, conclusively ending French plans to invade England. Nelson instead divided his force into two columns directed perpendicularly against the enemy fleet, with decisive results. Nelson was shot by a French musketeer during the battle and died shortly after, Villeneuve was captured along with his ship Bucentaure. Admiral Federico Gravina, the senior Spanish flag officer, escaped with the remnant of the fleet, Villeneuve attended Nelsons funeral while a captive on parole in Britain. In 1805, the First French Empire, under Napoleon Bonaparte, was the dominant military power on the European continent. During the course of the war, the British imposed a blockade on France. When the Third Coalition declared war on France, after the short-lived Peace of Amiens, to do so, he needed to ensure that the Royal Navy would be unable to disrupt the invasion flotilla, which would require control of the English Channel. The main French fleets were at Brest in Brittany and at Toulon on the Mediterranean coast, other ports on the French Atlantic coast harboured smaller squadrons. France and Spain were allied, so the Spanish fleet based in Cádiz, the British possessed an experienced and well-trained corps of naval officers. By contrast, some of the best officers in the French navy had either been executed or had left the service during the part of the French Revolution. Vice-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve had taken command of the French Mediterranean fleet following the death of Latouche Treville, there had been more competent officers but they had either been employed elsewhere or had fallen from Napoleons favour. Villeneuve had shown a lack of enthusiasm for facing Nelson. Napoleons naval plan in 1805 was for the French and Spanish fleets in the Mediterranean and Cádiz to break through the blockade and join forces in the Caribbean. They would then return, assist the fleet in Brest to emerge from the blockade, early in 1805, Vice Admiral Lord Nelson commanded the British fleet blockading Toulon. Unlike William Cornwallis, who maintained a blockade off Brest with the Channel Fleet. However, Villeneuves fleet successfully evaded Nelsons when the British were blown off station by storms, Nelson commenced a search of the Mediterranean, erroneously supposing that the French intended to make for Egypt. However, Villeneuve took his fleet through the Strait of Gibraltar, rendezvoused with the Spanish fleet, once Nelson realised that the French had crossed the Atlantic Ocean, he set off in pursuit

24.
Battle of Caldiero (1805)
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The Battle of Caldiero took place on October 30,1805, pitting the French Armée dItalie under Marshal André Masséna against an Austrian army under the command of Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen. The fighting took place at Caldiero,15 kilometres east of Verona, in the War of the Third Coalition, on 18 October, Masséna won a bridgehead on the east bank of the Adige River in the Battle of Verona. At dawn, the French launched their attack from Verona against Josef Philipp Vukassovichs division, after heavy fighting, the divisions of Guillaume Philibert Duhesme and Gaspard Amédée Gardanne cleared the town of San Giorgio and part of the heights of Veronetta. The French lost 77 dead and 246 wounded, while the Austrians suffered 246 killed and 906 wounded, Archduke Charles was so unhappy with Vukassovichs performance that he replaced him with Franz Seraph of Orsini-Rosenberg. The fighting on 29 October is considered by one historian to be part of the Battle of Caldiero, on that day, the divisions of Duhesme and Gardanne advanced on the left against Rosenberg, while Molitors and Louis Partouneauxs divisions moved forward against the town of Veronetta. Seeing a mass of French troops approaching, the Austrians abandoned Veronetta, the French mauled Rosenbergs division and forced Johann Maria Philipp Frimont out of San Michele after street fighting. By the end of the day, Massénas troops closed up to the defense line of Archduke Charles. The French counted losses of 527 killed and wounded, plus 157 captured, again, Austrian casualties were heavier, numbering 1,926 killed and wounded, with 1,114 prisoners. Upon reconnoitering the Austrian position, Masséna drew up his plan, to the left Molitors division would deploy close to Ca dellAra and would set out to take the heights of Colognola. To the right, Duhesme would march on Gombione in order to fall upon Caldiero, Masséna was planning to wait for Verdiers flanking maneuver before committing to a frontal attack, but Archduke Charles took the initiative, attacking on both flanks of the French army. Taking with him the cavalry he had available, Simbschen made the first move against Molitor, descending the slope of the Colognola heights, on the other side of the battlefield, Nordmann moved forward too, following the river line of the Adige. Molitor moved forward himself and his forces clashed with Simbschens, forcing the back up the slopes of the Colognola Alta. A second French assault would also fail and the fighting would continue much of the day. In the centre, general Gardanne belatedly formed his men and painstakingly fought his way up towards Caldiero against a determined Bellegarde, Gardannes first attempt failed and he was forced to fall back on Rotta, where he was immediately reinforced by Partounneaux and dEspagne. With his force thus augmented, Gardanne moved forward again and this time the French managed to take the position of Caldiero. A furious Austrian counterattack regained the position only to see Gardanne receive further reinforcements, one of Duhesmes brigades, Bellegarde reformed his men for another counterattack, which he led in cooperation with Reuss-Plauens forces, which had just come up as reinforcements. The Austrians finally evacuated the position and the exhausted French drove them out, on the French right, general Duhesme moved early against the forces of prince Reuss-Plauen and moved his first brigade under François Goullus against the Austrians at Gombione. However, Duhesme saw the situation on his rapidly deteriorating and was thus forced to send Mathieu Herbins brigade in support of Gardannes assault of Caldiero

25.
Battle of Cape Ortegal
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It took place on 4 November 1805 off Cape Ortegal, in north-west Spain and saw Captain Sir Richard Strachan defeat and capture a French squadron under Rear-Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley. It is sometimes known as Strachans Action, Dumanoir had commanded the van of the line at Trafalgar, and had managed to escape the battle having suffered relatively little damage. On his journey he encountered two British frigates but drove them off, but shortly afterwards came across a single British frigate, the frigate led Dumanoir within range of a British squadron under Strachan, who was patrolling the area in search of a different French squadron. Strachan immediately gave chase, while Dumanoir fled from the force he had been lured towards. Strachans squadron took time to form up, but he was able to use the attached to it to harass and slow the French. There then followed several hours of fighting, before Strachan was able to outmanoeuvre his opponent and double his line with frigates. The French ships were overwhelmed and forced to surrender. All four ships were back to Britain as prizes and commissioned into the Navy. Strachan and his men were rewarded by a public who viewed the successful outcome as completing Nelsons victory at Trafalgar. Four French ships of the line stationed towards the head of the combined fleets line escaped the Battle of Trafalgar under Rear-Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley, pelleys initial intention was to carry out Villeneuves original orders, and make for Toulon. The day after the battle he changed his mind, remembering that a substantial British squadron under Rear-Admiral Thomas Louis was patrolling the straits and his squadron represented a still-considerable force, having suffered only slight damage at Trafalgar. In escaping from Trafalgar Dumanoirs flagship, Formidable had jettisoned twelve 12-pounder guns from her quarterdeck in order to lighten her load, Dumanoir doubled Cape St Vincent on 29 October and made for Île-dAix, entering the Bay of Biscay on 2 November. There were a number of British ships and squadrons already in the bay, zacharie Allemand, commander of the Rochefort squadron, had sailed from the port in July 1805, and was currently cruising in the Atlantic, raiding British shipping. One of the British ships sent out on patrol was the 36-gun HMS Phoenix, Baker had orders to patrol west of the Scilly Isles, but in late October he received news from several neutral merchants that Allemands squadron had been sighted in the Bay of Biscay. Baker immediately left his station and sailed southwards, reaching the latitude of Cape Finisterre on 2 November, Baker sighted four ships steering north-north-west at 11 oclock, and immediately gave chase. The ships, which Baker presumed to be part of the Rochefort squadron, but were actually Dumanoirs ships, bore up at noon and began to chase Phoenix, which fled south. In doing so Baker hoped to lure the French onto a British squadron under Captain Sir Richard Strachan that he knew to be in the area, Baker kept ahead of the pursuing French, and at 3 oclock that afternoon he sighted four sails heading south. Dumanoirs forces also saw them, and stood to the east, while Baker, no longer pursued, kept the French sails under observation

26.
Battle of Mariazell
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The Battle of Mariazell or Battle of Grossraming saw the advance guard of the French III Corps attack a retreating Austrian force led by Maximilian, Count of Merveldt. The advance guard, led by Étienne Heudelet de Bierre overwhelmed their demoralized enemies, marshal Louis Davout commanded the III Corps. The action occurred during the War of the Third Coalition, which is part of the Napoleonic Wars, Mariazell is located in the Austrian province of Styria, about 50 kilometres south of St. Pölten. The 1805 war began with the Ulm Campaign which was disastrous for Austria, with only the corps of Michael von Kienmayer and Franz Jellacic escaping envelopment by the Grande Armée of Napoleon. As Kienmayers columns fled to the east, they joined with elements of the Russian Empires army in a rear guard action at the Battle of Amstetten on 5 November, a few days later, Davouts III Corps caught up with Merveldts division at Mariazell. The Austrian soldiers, their morale shaken by continuous retreating, were routed after a brief struggle, on 12 November, Austrias capital Vienna fell to the French without a fight. The outcome of the war would be decided by the Battle of Austerlitz in early December, new York, NY, William Morrow & Co

27.
Capitulation of Dornbirn
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The Capitulation of Dornbirn saw the French VII Corps under Marshal Pierre Augereau face an Austrian force led by Franz Jellacic. Isolated near Lake Constance by superior numbers of French troops, Jellacic surrendered his command, the event occurred during the War of the Third Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. Dornbirn is located in the Austrian province of Vorarlberg, about 12 kilometres south of Bregenz at the end of Lake Constance. The Ulm Campaign in October 1805 was catastrophic for Austria, with only the corps of Michael von Kienmayer and Franz Jellacic escaping envelopment, while Kienmayers troops withdrew east toward Vienna, the only escape route open to Jellacic was to the south. As some of Napoleons corps moved south into the Alps and the Austrian army of Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen withdrew from Italy, in a remarkable trek, his cavalry set off for Bohemia and evaded capture. However, Augereaus late-arriving corps moved into the Vorarlberg and, after a number of clashes, the day before Jellacics surrender, the French occupied the Austrian capital of Vienna, but the war would not be decided until the Battle of Austerlitz was fought on 2 December. Augereaus VII Corps numbered 14,000 men and consisted of two divisions led by Generals of Division Jacques Desjardin and Maurice Mathieu. In the 1805 campaign there was no corps cavalry brigade, Jellacics command consisted of the 2nd Jager Battalion, three battalions each of the Stain Infantry Regiment Nr.50 and the Franz Jellacic Infantry Regiment Nr. 62, the Grenadier Battalion of the Beaulieu Infantry Regiment Nr,58, and one and one-half combined battalions. The capitulation included three generals,160 officers,3,895 rank and file, and seven colors, the soldiers were allowed to march to Bohemia after giving up their weapons and promising not to fight against France for one year. One Austrian brigade led by General-major Prince Louis Victor de Rohan became separated from Archduke Johns army, hoping to join Feldmarschall-Leutnant Johann von Hillers wing of Archduke Charles army in Italy, Rohan looked to the south. Starting from Landeck in the County of Tyrol on 10 November, missing both Hiller and Charles, he determined to cut his way to Venice. Seizing Bolzano on 18 November, he marched his brigade south to Trento. Turning east into the Val Sugana and south into the Brenta River valley, marching hard, the Austrians reached Castelfranco Veneto the next evening. After a brief struggle,4,400 Austrian soldiers surrendered, New York, NY, William Morrow & Co. The New Annual Register or General Repository of History, Politics, a Biographical Dictionary of all Austrian Generals during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars 1792-1815, Rohan-Guéméné, Ludwig Victor Furst von

28.
Battle of Castelfranco Veneto
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In the Battle of Castelfranco Veneto, two divisions of the French Army of Italy confronted an Austrian brigade led by Prince Louis Victor de Rohan-Guéméné. The Austrians had made a march from deep in the Alps to the plains of northern Italy. But, caught between the divisions of Jean Reynier and Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr, Rohan surrendered his command after failing to fight his way out, the event occurred during the War of the Third Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. Castelfranco Veneto is located 40 kilometres northwest of Venice, the Ulm Campaign of October 1805 resulted in an Austrian disaster when the Grande Armée of Napoleon enveloped and destroyed most of its units. Afterward, only Michael von Kienmayers fleeing corps and a newly arriving Russian army under Mikhail Kutuzov stood between Napoleon and the Austrian capital of Vienna. After hearing the news of Ulm, the army of Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen began withdrawing from northern Italy. In the confusion, Rohans brigade became separated from Johns army, first, Rohan attempted to join part of Charles army. Failing, he had his men south to link up with the Austrian garrison of Venice. After an epic march Rohans brigade was cornered short of Venice, the issue of the war would be determined at the Battle of Austerlitz in early December. One Austrian brigade led by General-major Prince Louis Victor de Rohan-Guéméné became separated from Archduke Johns army, hoping to join Feldmarschall-Leutnant Johann von Hillers wing of Archduke Charles army in Italy, Rohan looked to the south. Starting from Landeck in the County of Tyrol on 10 November, missing both Hiller and Charles, he determined to cut his way to Venice. Seizing Bolzano on 18 November, he marched his brigade south to Trento. From there, he turned east into the Val Sugana before swinging south into the Brenta River valley, where the Brenta leaves the mountains, the Austrians surprised and ejected the French garrison of Bassano on 22 November. Marching hard, the Austrians reached Castelfranco Veneto the next evening, on 24 November, Rohans epic march came to an end when his troops were trapped between the divisions of Generals of Division Jean Reynier and Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr. After a struggle, the Austrian soldiers surrendered, reyniers division numbered 8,000 men in 11 battalions with 12 guns. His command consisted of the 1st Swiss Infantry Regiment and the 10th, 53rd, 56th, the strength and composition of Gouvion Saint-Cyrs division was not given. Rohans cavalry included eight squadrons of the Archduke Ferdinand Cuirassier Regiment Nr,4, and one squadron of the Hohenzollern Chevau-leger Regiment Nr.2 and a combined squadron. His infantry comprised four battalions of the Duka Infantry Regiment Nr,38, the 2nd and 4th Battalions of the Beaulieu Infantry Regiment Nr

29.
Battle of Blaauwberg
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It established British rule in South Africa, which was to have many ramifications for the region during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A bi-centennial commemoration was held in January 2006, the battle was an incident in Europes Napoleonic Wars. At that time, the Cape Colony belonged to the Batavian Republic, because the sea route around the Cape was important to the British, they decided to seize the colony in order to prevent it—and the sea route—from also coming under French control. A British fleet was despatched to the Cape in July 1805, the colony was governed by Lieutenant General Jan Willem Janssens, who was also commander-in-chief of its military forces. The forces were small and of quality, and included foreign units hired by the Batavian government. They were backed up by local militia units, the first British warship reached the Cape on Christmas Eve 1805, and attacked two supply ships off the Cape Peninsula. Janssens placed his garrison on alert, when the main fleet sailed into Table Bay on 4 January 1806, he mobilised the garrison, declared martial law, and called up the militia. After a delay caused by rough seas, two British infantry brigades, under the command of Lt Gen Sir David Baird, landed at Melkbosstrand, north of Cape Town, Janssens moved his forces to intercept them. He had decided that victory could be considered impossible, but the honour of the fatherland demanded a fight and his intention was to attack the British on the beach and then to withdraw to the interior, where he hoped to hold out until the French troopships arrived. Janssens halted and formed a line across the veld, the battle began at sunrise, with exchanges of artillery fire. These were followed by an advance by Janssenss militia cavalry, one of Janssenss hired foreign units, in the centre of his line, turned and ran from the field. A British bayonet charge disposed of the units on Janssenss right flank, Janssens began the battle with 2,049 troops, and lost 353 in casualties and desertions. Baird began the battle with 5,399 men, and had 212 casualties, from Blaauwberg, Janssens moved inland to a farm in the Tygerberg area, and from there his troops moved to the Elands Kloof in the Hottentots Holland Mountains, about 50km from Cape Town. The British forces reached the outskirts of Cape Town on 9 January, to spare the town and its civilian population from attack, the commandant of Cape Town, Lieutenant-Colonel Hieronymus Casimir von Prophalow, sent out a white flag. He handed over the fortifications to Baird, and terms of surrender were negotiated later in the day. The formal Articles of Capitulation for the town and the Cape Peninsula were signed the following afternoon,10 January, although the cottage has long since been demolished, Treaty Street still commemorates the event. The tree under which they signed remains to this day and he had only 1,238 men with him, and 211 deserted in the days that followed. Janssens held out in the mountains for a further week, after further consideration, and consultation with his senior officers and advisers, Janssens decided that the bitter cup must be drunk to the bottom

30.
Battle of San Domingo
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Separating from the squadron under Contre-Admiral Jean-Baptiste Willaumez in the mid-Atlantic, Leissègues sailed for the Caribbean. By the time French lookouts at Santo Domingo had spotted Duckworth approaching from the southeast, sailing with the wind westwards along the coast, Leissègues formed a line of battle to meet the approaching British squadron, which had split into two divisions. Although his divisions separated during the approach, Duckworths lead ships remained in a formation and successfully engaged the head of the French line. Under pressure, the French squadron broke apart with the British isolating and capturing three ships before concentrating on the main combat around the French flagship, severely damaged and surrounded, Leissègues drove Impérial ashore to avoid capture. The remaining French ship of the line, Diomède, followed him, although most of the crew of these ships scrambled ashore, British boarding parties captured both vessels and set them on fire. The only French ships to escape the battle were three smaller warships, which Duckworths squadron had ignored, they returned to France. Willaumezs squadron remained at large in the Atlantic until July 1806, of the 11 ships that set out in December 1805, just four eventually returned to France. The crews of the British squadron were decorated for their success, with the exception of Duckworth, by leaving his post off Cadiz he had provoked the anger of Vice-Admiral Lord Collingwood, commander in the Mediterranean, only his victory enabled Duckworth to escape a court martial. The battle of San Domingo was the last fleet engagement of the war between French and British capital ships in open water, the Royal Navys dominance off every French port made the risks involved in putting to sea insurmountable. The only subsequent breakout attempt, by the Brest fleet in 1809, barham believed that the French, having suffered such heavy losses, would be unable and unwilling to launch a major offensive in the Atlantic until after the winter. However, he had miscalculated the strength of the fleet at Brest, the Brest fleet had not been engaged in the 1805 campaign and was therefore intact. Taking advantage of the withdrawal of the British blockade, Emperor Napoleon ordered two squadrons to put to sea with orders to raid the British trade routes crossed the Atlantic. These forces were to inflict as much damage to Britain as possible without engaging an equivalent British naval squadron and risking defeat. The cruise was expected to last as long as 14 months, in November 1805, reports reached Duckworth of a French squadron operating against British convoys off the Savage Islands between Madeira and the Canary Islands. This squadron, which belonged to Contre-Admiral Zacharie Allemand, had left France in July 1805, immediately sailing to investigate, Duckworth abandoned Cadiz, leaving just two frigates to watch the Allied fleet at anchor. Passing the Savage and Canary Islands, Duckworth continued to the Cape Verde Islands before conceding that the French had escaped him, Allemand was already far to the north. He eventually returned to France without incident on 23 December, during his return journey to Cadiz, on 23 December Duckworth encountered HMS Arethusa under Captain Charles Brisbane escorting a small group of merchant ships. Once he had escaped Leissègues pursuit, Brisbane sailed in search of support at Cadiz, Duckworth ordered his squadron to pursue, the chase lasting throughout the day and continuing into 26 December, by which time it had become clear that his quarry was not Allemand

31.
Invasion of Naples (1806)
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The Invasion of Naples in January 1806 saw a French army led by Marshal André Masséna march from northern Italy into the Kingdom of Naples which was ruled by King Ferdinand IV. The Neapolitan army was vanquished at Campo Tenese and rapidly disintegrated, the invasion was eventually successful despite some setbacks, including the prolonged Siege of Gaeta, the British victory at Maida, and a stubborn guerrilla war by the peasantry against the French. Total success eluded the French because Ferdinand withdrew to his domain in Sicily where he was protected by the Royal Navy, in 1806 Emperor Napoleon appointed his brother Joseph Bonaparte to rule over southern Italy as king. The proximate cause of the invasion was Ferdinands double-crossing of Napoleon, wanting to keep things quiet in southern Italy, Napoleon and Ferdinand signed a convention that specified that the French would evacuate Apulia. In return, the Kingdom of Naples would stay neutral in the impending War of the Third Coalition, no sooner had the French occupying force marched away than Ferdinand admitted British and Russian armies into his kingdom. In December 1805, Napoleons armies crushed the armies of Austria and Russia, when the Russian force in Naples was recalled, the British expedition also withdrew, leaving Ferdinands kingdom exposed to French retribution. To defend his possessions in northern Italy, Emperor Napoleon maintained 94,000 men in the Army of Italy in early 1805, however, after accounting for fortress garrisons, military depots, and the sick, only 60,000 troops were available for use in the field. There were 48,000 in the army,2,000 performing internal security functions. Against these numbers, the Austrian army in Italy under Archduke Charles, because he was anxious about events in Bavaria, Charles decided on a cautious strategy in the autumn campaign. Among other things, the Treaty of Amiens of 1802 stipulated that Great Britain must abandon the island of Malta while France had to evacuate the part of the Kingdom of Naples that it occupied, the British statesmen soon repented of their actions and refused to give up Malta. Consequently, the French army kept its grip on Apulia in the heel of Italy with its ports, Taranto, Bari. The Neapolitan army of King Ferdinand IV numbered only 22,000 soldiers, fearful that Saint-Cyrs army might invade his domain, the king concluded an agreement with Napoleon to remain neutral during the War of the Third Coalition. The treaty was signed in France on 21 September 1805 by Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, the accord required that the Kingdom of Naples dismiss all foreign officers from its army and not allow the landing of any foreign troops in its territory. In return, the French agreed to evacuate Apulia, the treaty was ratified in Naples on 3 October. Notified of the terms of the treaty and its ratification, Saint-Cyr immediately evacuated Apulia, almost at once, Ferdinand and Queen Maria Carolina reneged on the treaty and treacherously summoned two Coalition expeditionary forces to Naples. Lieutenant General James Henry Craig sailed from Malta with 7,500 British soldiers while General Maurice Lacy of Grodno led 14,500 Russian troops aboard ship at Corfu, another authority gave lower numbers,6,000 in Craigs force and 7,350 in Lacys corps. The British and Russians landed at Naples on 20 November 1805, by this time, Masséna was in pursuit of Archduke Charles army. Since Saint-Cyr moved one-third of his command to help besiege the Austrian garrison of Venice, buoyed by news of the British victory at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805, Craig and Lacy readied their troops for a march into northern Italy

32.
Siege of Gaeta (1806)
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The Siege of Gaeta saw the fortress city of Gaeta and its Neapolitan garrison under Louis of Hesse-Philippsthal besieged by an Imperial French corps led by André Masséna. After a prolonged defense in which Hesse was badly wounded, Gaeta surrendered, the 1806 Invasion of Naples by Napoleons forces was provoked when King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies joined the Third Coalition against Imperial France. The Kingdom of Naples was rapidly overrun by Imperial soldiers, the garrison put up such fierce resistance that a large part of Massénas Army of Naples was tied up in the siege for nearly five months. However, because the British failed to relieve the garrison of Gaeta, by the late summer of 1805, the War of the Third Coalition was about to break out. Emperor Napoleon deployed 94,000 men to defend his possessions in Italy. Marshal André Masséna had 68,000 men in the army, the satellite Kingdom of Italy added 8,000. Against Napoleons empire, the Austrian army in Italy under Archduke Charles, Neapolitan army of King Ferdinand IV counted a mere 22,000 soldiers. Afraid that the French might invade his domain, the king concluded a treaty with Napoleon to remain neutral, in exchange, the French agreed to evacuate Apulia in southern Italy. The treaty was ratified in Naples on 3 October, as soon as the ink was dry, the French observation corps abandoned Apulia and marched north to join Massénas army. Immediately, Ferdinand and Queen Maria Carolina treacherously summoned two Coalition expeditionary forces to Naples, lieutenant General James Henry Craig sailed from Malta with 7,500 British troops while General Maurice Lacy of Grodno landed 14,500 Russian soldiers from Corfu. A second source noted that 6,000 men under Craig and 7,350 under Lacy landed at Naples on 20 November 1805, by this time only 10,000 Franco-Italian troops observed the Neapolitan border. As Craig and Lacy prepared for an offensive into northern Italy, without the assistance of their allies, Craig and Lacy were only strong enough to maintain a defensive posture. Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Naples belatedly drafted 6,000 men for service by pressing jailed criminals into the ranks. In the meantime, a reinforcement of 6,000 Russians landed, Napoleons decisive victory at the Battle of Austerlitz on 2 December 1805 ended the Third Coalition. After Czar Alexander I of Russia ordered Lacy to withdraw his force, understanding that retribution would soon follow, the Neapolitan government was thrown into chaos. The king knew that he had double-crossed Napoleon, casting about for a good position to defend, Craig offered to hold the fortress of Gaeta. However, its governor, Prince Louis of Hesse-Philippsthal stubbornly refused to admit his men to the citadel, the British general then asked the Neapolitan government if he could land his troops at Messina in Sicily. This offer was turned down

33.
Battle of Campo Tenese
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The Battle of Campo Tenese saw two divisions of the Imperial French Army of Naples led by Jean Reynier attack the left wing of the Royal Neapolitan Army under Roger de Damas. Though the defenders were protected by fortifications, a French frontal attack combined with a turning movement rapidly overran the position. The action occurred at Campotenese, a mountain village in the municipality of Morano Calabro in the north of Calabria. The battle was fought during the War of the Third Coalition, in the second week of February 1806 the Imperial French armies poured across the border in the Invasion of Naples. The Neapolitan army, divided into two wings, retreated before the forces of their opponents. At Campo Tenese, Damas attempted to make a stand with the wing in order to give the right wing time to join him. After the defeat, the Neapolitan army melted away from desertion, however, the conflict was far from over. The Siege of Gaeta, the British victory at Maida, in early 1805, French Emperor Napoleon prepared to defend his possessions in Italy against the Austrian Empire. For its part, the Austrian army in Italy under Archduke Charles, King Ferdinand IVs Neapolitan army counted only 22,000 soldiers. Afraid that Saint-Cyrs corps might overrun his lands, the king concluded a treaty with Napoleon to remain neutral during the War of the Third Coalition. As soon as Saint-Cyrs army marched north, Ferdinand and Queen Maria Carolina violated the agreement and invited the British, lieutenant General James Henry Craigs 6,000 British and General Maurice Lacy of Grodnos 7,350 Russians landed at Naples on 20 November 1805. However, Napoleons decisive victory at the Battle of Austerlitz on 2 December 1805 resulted in the demise of the Third Coalition, as a result, both expeditionary forces were ordered by their governments to withdraw and they were gone by mid-January. This left Ferdinand alone to face the fury of Napoleon, who had determined to conquer the Kingdom of Naples, Saint-Cyrs corps was renamed the Army of Naples in January 1806 and placed under the command of Masséna, though Joseph was the nominal leader. Annoyed at being demoted, Saint-Cyr clashed with Masséna and was recalled early in the campaign, the army was divided into three wings. General of Division Jean Reynier commanded 7,500 soldiers of the wing assembled at Rome. Masséna led the 17,500 troops of the center, also concentrated at Rome, the 5,000 men of the left wing under General of Division Giuseppe Lechi massed at Ancona on the Adriatic Sea. General of Division Guillaume Philibert Duhesme was marching from Austria with an additional 7, in total, Massénas army numbered more than 41,000 men. While the Imperial French armys combat effectiveness was high, it suffered from maladministration and its troops were poorly paid, clothed, and fed, leading the soldiers to rob the local people as a matter of course

34.
Battle of Maida
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The Battle of Maida on 4 July 1806 was a battle between the British expeditionary force and a First French Empire division outside the town of Maida in Calabria, Italy during the Napoleonic Wars. John Stuart led 5,200 British troops to victory over about 6,000 French soldiers under Jean Reynier, Maida is located in the toe of Italy, about 30 kilometres west of Catanzaro. In early 1806, the French invaded and overran the Kingdom of Naples, forcing King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, the Calabrians revolted against their new conquerors and Stuarts expeditionary force tried to exploit the unrest by raiding the coast. While ashore, the British encountered Reyniers division and the two engaged in battle. The 19th-century historians presented the action as a fight between French columns and British lines. This view of the battle has been called into doubt by at least one modern historian who argued that the French deployed into lines, nobody questions the result which was a one-sided British tactical victory. After the battle, Stuart captured some isolated garrisons in Calabria and was transported back to Sicily by the Royal Navy, Two weeks after the battle, the city of Gaeta fell to the French after a long siege. While Stuart succeeded in preventing a French invasion of Sicily and sustained the revolt in Calabria, the Neapolitan-Sicilian army was crushed at the Battle of Campo Tenese, forcing Ferdinand to flee to Sicily and concede the Neapolitan crown to the French. Napoleon then installed his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the Neapolitan throne, by July 1806, the French had crushed all Neapolitan resistance except for the uprising in Calabria and a garrison at Gaeta. There, André Massénas force become embroiled in a lengthy siege, a British force of over 5,000 men commanded by Major-General John Stuart sailed from Messina on 27 June, landing in the Gulf of SantEufemia three days later. At the same time a French force under the command of General Jean Reynier, the exact size of the French force is unknown. Contemporary French sources range between 5050 and 5450, some later historians have suggested a force as large as 6400 but the most recent estimates are closer to 5400. On the morning of 4 July, Reynier broke camp and advanced toward level terrain along the shallow Lomato River, believing his army superior in numbers, Stuart marched toward the same location nearly parallel to the French column. As both forces deployed from march column, they ended up in echelon formation, on the French side, the left flank was leading, while on the British side the right flank was leading. On the French left, General of Brigade Louis Fursy Henri Compère was echeloned forward, with the 1st Light Infantry Regiment on the left and the 42nd Line Infantry Regiment to its right. The center, commanded by General of Brigade Luigi Gaspare Peyri, on the right flank, General of Brigade Antoine Digonet trailed the other two formations. Digonets command comprised the 23rd Light Infantry and 9th Chasseurs à Cheval Regiments, opposing the French was Colonel James Kempts Advanced Guard on the British right flank, echeloned forward. To Kempts left rear was Colonel Wroth Palmer Aclands 2nd Brigade, well to Aclands left rear marched Colonel John Oswalds 3rd Brigade, which formed the center

35.
Battle of Mileto
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The Battle of Mileto was a battle of the War of the Third Coalition. It occurred on 28 May 1807 in Calabria during an attempt by the Bourbon Kingdom of Sicily to re-conquer its possessions in continental Italy, the battle ended in a victory for French forces under general Jean Reynier. From their Sicilian base, the Bourbons and the British then attempted to foment a revolt against the new French-ruled Kingdom of Naples. These stirrings of revolt made life difficult for the French rulers and triggered a vicious crackdown, mainly led by captain Charles Antoine Manhès and it was Maria who chose Louis of Hesse-Philippsthal as commander of the Bourbon army. In 1806 Louis defended Gaeta against the French and in May 1807 landed in Calabria, intending to defeat the French once and he had around 3,500 men under his command, augmented by irregular troops from among the massisti, whilst his officers included colonel Vito Nunziante. For a year the French followed a policy of withdrawal in the face of the Bourbon advance. Philippsthal and his army moved from Rosarno to Mileto on 26 May 1807.30 on 28 May on the hills of Nao and Pizzinni, which overlooked the town of Mileto. From here the battle shifted to the outskirts of the town of Mileto, the encounter was bloody and the Bourbon army was routed and pursued to Rosarno, Gioia Tauro, Seminara and finally to the gates of Reggio Calabria. The two combatants totalled around 10,000, of whom a high percentage were killed. The sources state that the turned on a moment when the Bourbon cavalry charged but was repulsed by the French infantry. As they escaped, the irregulars also looted their own Bourbon allies, the original Bourbon plan of reconquering Naples had also not been implemented at the time of the battle. Varied political reasons meant that the plan did not become a reality, despite being a Bourbon defeat, it left behind so many mainland foci for anti-French resistance that Napoleon then decided to abandon his plan to capture Sicily. Francesco Pititto, La battaglia di Mileto,28 maggio 1807, p.121, a. Signoretta, Mileto,1917 The Battle of Mileto on www. prolocomileto. it

36.
French Republican Calendar
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The revolutionary system was designed in part to remove all religious and royalist influences from the calendar, and was part of a larger attempt at decimalisation in France. Sylvain Maréchal, prominent anticlerical atheist, published the first edition of his Almanach des Honnêtes-gens in 1788, on pages 14–15 appears a calendar, consisting of twelve months. The first month is Mars, ou Princeps, the last month is Février, the lengths of the months are the same, however, the 10th, 20th, and 30th are singled out of each month as the end of a décade. Individual days were assigned, instead of to the saints, to people noteworthy for mostly secular achievements. Later editions of the almanac would switch to the Republican Calendar, the days of the French Revolution and Republic saw many efforts to sweep away various trappings of the ancien régime, some of these were more successful than others. The new Republican government sought to institute, among other reforms, a new social and legal system, a new system of weights and measures, and a new calendar. Amid nostalgia for the ancient Roman Republic, the theories of the Enlightenment were at their peak, natural constants, multiples of ten, and Latin as well as Old Greek derivations formed the fundamental blocks from which the new systems were built. The new calendar was created by a commission under the direction of the politician Charles-Gilbert Romme seconded by Claude Joseph Ferry and it is because of his position as rapporteur of the commission that the creation of the republican calendar is attributed to Romme. The calendar is called the French Revolutionary Calendar because it was created during the Revolution. Indeed, there was initially a debate as to whether the calendar should celebrate the Great Revolution, which began in July 1789, or the Republic, immediately following 14 July 1789, papers and pamphlets started calling 1789 year I of Liberty and the following years II and III. It was in 1792, with the problem of dating financial transactions. Originally, the choice of epoch was either 1 January 1789 or 14 July 1789, after some hesitation the assembly decided on 2 January 1792 that all official documents would use the era of Liberty and that the year IV of Liberty started on 1 January 1792. This usage was modified on 22 September 1792 when the Republic was proclaimed, the establishment of the Republic was used as the epochal date for the calendar, therefore, the calendar commemorates the Republic, not the Revolution. In France, it is known as the calendrier républicain as well as the calendrier révolutionnaire, the Revolution is usually considered to have ended with the coup of 18 Brumaire in Year VIII. The French Republic ended with the coronation of Napoleon I as Empereur des Français on 11 Frimaire, Year XIII, French coins of the period naturally used this calendar. Many show the year in Arabic numbers, although Roman numerals were used on some issues, Year 11 coins typically have a XI date to avoid confusion with the Roman II. Napoléon finally abolished the calendar with effect from 1 January 1806, however, it was used again during the brief Paris Commune, 6–23 May 1871. These documents have kept their original dates for legal accuracy and citation purposes, years appear in writing as Roman numerals, with epoch 22 September 1792, the beginning of the Republican Era

37.
Napoleonic Wars
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The wars resulted from the unresolved disputes associated with the French Revolution and the Revolutionary Wars, which had raged on for years before concluding with the Treaty of Amiens in 1802. Napoleon became the First Consul of France in 1799, then Emperor five years later, inheriting the political and military struggles of the Revolution, he created a state with stable finances, a strong central bureaucracy, and a well-trained army. The British frequently financed the European coalitions intended to thwart French ambitions, by 1805, they had managed to convince the Austrians and the Russians to wage another war against France. At sea, the Royal Navy destroyed a combined Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar in October 1805, Prussian worries about increasing French power led to the formation of the Fourth Coalition in 1806. France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July, although Tilsit signified the high watermark of the French Empire, it did not bring a lasting peace for Europe. Hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, Napoleon invaded Iberia, the Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support. The Peninsular War lasted six years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, the Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia. Unwilling to bear the consequences of reduced trade, the Russians routinely violated the Continental System. The French launched an invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the collapse and retreat of the Grand Army along with the destruction of Russian lands. In 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition against France, a lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813. The Allies then invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814 and he was exiled to the island of Elba near Rome and the Bourbons were restored to power. However, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again, the Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June. The Congress of Vienna, which started in 1814 and concluded in 1815, established the new borders of Europe and laid out the terms, Napoleon seized power in 1799, creating a de facto military dictatorship. The Napoleonic Wars began with the War of the Third Coalition, Kagan argues that Britain was irritated in particular by Napoleons assertion of control over Switzerland. Furthermore, Britons felt insulted when Napoleon stated that their country deserved no voice in European affairs, for its part, Russia decided that the intervention in Switzerland indicated that Napoleon was not looking toward a peaceful resolution of his differences with the other European powers. The British quickly enforced a blockade of France to starve it of resources. Napoleon responded with economic embargoes against Britain, and sought to eliminate Britains Continental allies to break the coalitions arrayed against him, the so-called Continental System formed a league of armed neutrality to disrupt the blockade and enforce free trade with France

38.
Imperial Russian Army
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The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of more than 900,000 regular soldiers, the last living veteran of the Russian Imperial Army was the Ukrainian supercentenarian Mikhail Krichevsky, who died in 2008. Russian tsars before Peter maintained professional hereditary musketeer corps, known as streltsy and these were originally raised by Tsar Ivan IV, originally an effective force, they had become highly unreliable and undisciplined. In times of war the forces were augmented by peasants. There were different kinds of regiments, such as regulars, dragoons, in 1631, the Russians created two regular regiments in Moscow. During the Russo-Polish War of 1632–1634, six regular regiments, one reiter regiment. Initially, they recruited children of the boyars and streltsy, volunteers, Cossacks. After the war with Poland, all of the regiments were disbanded, during another Russo-Polish War, they were created again and became a principal force of the Russian army. Often, regular and dragoon regiments were manned with datochniye lyudi for lifelong military service, reiters were manned with small or landless gentry and boyars children and were paid with money for their service. More than a half of the officers were representatives from the gentry. In times of peace, some of the regiments were usually disbanded, in 1681, there were 33 regular regiments and 25 dragoon and reiter regiments. In the late 17th century, regiments of the new type represented more than a half of the Russian Army, Conscription in Russia was introduced by Peter I of Russia in December 1699, though reports say Peters father also used it. Conscription of peasants and townspeople was based on system, per settlement. Initially it was based on the number of households, later it was based on the population numbers, the term of service in the 18th century was for life. In 1793 it was reduced to 25 years, in 1834, it was reduced to 20 years plus five years in the reserve, and in 1855 to 12 years plus three years in the reserve. The history of the Russian army in this era was linked to the name of Russian General Alexander Suvorov, considered one of a few great generals in history who never lost a battle. From 1777 to 1783 Suvorov served in the Crimea and in the Caucasus, becoming a lieutenant-general in 1780, from 1787 to 1791 he again fought the Turks during the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792 and won many victories. Suvorovs leadership also played a key role in a Russian victory over the Poles during the Kościuszko Uprising, furthermore, many lower-level officers were poorly trained and had difficulty getting their men to perform the sometimes complex manoeuvres required in a battle

39.
Imperial and Royal Army during the Napoleonic Wars
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When the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806, it assumed its title of the Army of the Austrian Empire under the same monarch, now known as Emperor Francis I of Austria. The name Imperial-Royal Army was used from 1745, as Royal referred to the Apostolic Kingdom of Hungary, which was not part of the Holy Roman Empire, conscription resulted in elements of untrained men in every battalion, a problem exacerbated by incoherent training across the regions. The army was beset by constant government frugality and several reorganisations, Charles was responsible for the severe check Napoleon suffered at the battle of Aspern-Essling, but after the subsequent defeat at Wagram retired from active command. Staff officers were drawn from units and would later return to them. In a battle or when the army had detached corps, a number of staff would be allocated to the column commander as a smaller version of headquarters. The senior man, usually a Major, would be the chief of the column staff, the Archduke set out the position of a modern Chief of Staff, “The Chief of Staff stands at the side of the Commander-in-Chief and is completely at his disposal. His sphere of work connects him with no specific unit”, “The Commander-in-Chief decides what should happen and how, his chief assistant works out these decisions, so that each subordinate understands his allotted task”. With the creation of the Korps in 1809, each had a staff, whose chief was responsible for directing operations, the staff on the outbreak of war in 1809 numbered over 170. In this system lay the beginnings of a staff corps, whose members could specialise in operations, intelligence. Recruitment in the German areas was by voluntary enlistment and a scheme of conscription, recruits for Hungarian regiments were organised by the Hungarian Assembly of Nobles Diet of Hungary by quotas in each county. Each regiment had its own zone of recruitment within the Empire, Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen emphasised education of the troops and officers in particular. So, the Second Reform period produced a series of manuals. C) Exercier Reglement für die K. K, the 1807 Exercier-Reglemnt formalised the training of infantry skirmishers as organic to their battalions and the employment of Masses in the more densely-packed battlefields. While still vulnerable to artillery, the formation was more than adequate against cavalry, a reconstructed 6pdr in the Military Museum in Budapest, a short 1753 18pdr siege gun is in the Royal Artillery Museum collection is now in long-term storage. There are unconfirmed rumours of a 6pdr gun and a 6pdr Cavalry gun in Moscow, Austro-Hungarian Army Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Empire Weapons of the Austro-Hungarian Empire Flags of the Imperial Austrian Army of the Napoleonic Wars Bassett, Richard. For God and Kaiser, The Imperial Austrian Army, 1619-1918, Fremont-Barnes, G. Armies of the Napoleonic Wars 2011 Fremont-Barnes, G. Hungarian Hussar 1756-18152003 Hollins, D. Austrian Commanders of the Napoleonic Wars 1792-18152004 Rothenberg, G. Napoleon’s Great Adversaries 1982 Encerbi, the Austrian Imperial-Royal Army 1805-1809 http, //www. centotredicesimo. org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ACERBI-The-Austrian-Imperial-Army-1805-09. pdf Kriegsgeschichtliche Abteilung des k. u. k. Kriegsarchivs, Kriege gegen die französische Revolution 1905 Kriegsgeschichtliche Abteilung des k. u. k, kriegsarchivs, Krieg 18091907 Kriegsgeschichtliche Abteilung des k. u. k

40.
Battle of Cannae
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The Battle of Cannae was a major battle of the Second Punic War that took place on 2 August 216 BC in Apulia, in southeast Italy. The army of Carthage, under Hannibal, surrounded and decisively defeated an army of the Roman Republic under the consuls Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro. It is regarded both as one of the greatest tactical feats in history and as one of the worst defeats in Roman history. Having recovered from their losses at Trebia and Lake Trasimene, the Romans decided to engage Hannibal at Cannae, with roughly 86,000 Roman, the Romans massed their heavy infantry in a deeper formation than usual, while Hannibal utilized the double-envelopment tactic. This was so successful that the Roman army was destroyed as a fighting force. Following the defeat, Capua and several other Italian city-states defected from the Roman Republic to Carthage, shortly after the start of the Second Punic War, the Carthaginian general Hannibal crossed into Italy by traversing the Pyrenees and the Alps during the summer and early autumn. He quickly won major victories over the Romans at Trebia and at Lake Trasimene, after these losses, the Romans appointed Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus as dictator to deal with the threat. Fabius used attrition warfare against Hannibal, cutting off his supply lines, the majority of Romans were eager to see a quick conclusion to the war. It was feared that, if Hannibal continued plundering Italy unopposed, therefore, when Fabius came to the end of his term, the Senate did not renew his dictatorial powers and command was given to consuls Gnaeus Servilius Geminus and Marcus Atilius Regulus. But on this occasion, so great was the alarm and terror of what would happen, they resolved to bring not only four, Rome typically employed four legions each year, each consisting of four thousand foot soldiers and two hundred cavalry. Eight legions, some 40,000 Roman soldiers and an estimated 2,400 cavalry, however, some have suggested that the destruction of an army of 90,000 troops would be impossible. They argue that Rome probably had 48,000 troops and 6,000 cavalry against Hannibals 35,000 troops and 10,000 cavalry, Livy quotes one source stating the Romans added only 10,000 men to their usual army. While no definitive number of Roman troops exists, all agree that the Carthaginians faced a considerably larger foe. Consuls were each assigned two of the four legions to command, rarely employing all four legions at once to the same assignment, however, the Senate feared a real threat and not only employed all four legions into the field, but all eight, including allies. Ordinarily, each of the two consuls would command his own portion of the army, but since the two armies were combined into one, Roman law required them to alternate their command on a daily basis. The traditional account puts Varro in command on the day of the battle, however, his low origins seem to be exaggerated in the sources, and Varro may have been made a scapegoat by the aristocratic establishment. In the spring of 216 BC, Hannibal took the initiative and seized the large depot at Cannae, in the Apulian plain. Hannibal recently harvested his crops so he had an army ready for action in the city of Cannae

41.
Battle of Gaugamela
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The Battle of Gaugamela, also called the Battle of Arbela, was the decisive battle of Alexander the Greats invasion of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. In 331 BC Alexanders army of the Hellenic League met the Persian army of Darius III near Gaugamela, even though heavily outnumbered, Alexander emerged victorious due to his armys superior tactics and his deft employment of light infantry. It was a victory for the Hellenic League and led to the fall of the Achaemenid Empire. In November 333 BC Darius III had lost the Battle of Issus, resulting in the capture of his wife, his mother, Darius had retreated to Babylon, where he regrouped the remaining army from the previous battle. The victory at Issus had given Alexander control of southern Asia Minor, following a victory at the Siege of Tyre, which lasted from January to July, Alexander controlled the Levant. After his victory at Gaza Persian troop counts were low and the Persian satrap of Egypt, Mazaces, Darius tried to dissuade Alexander from further attacks on his empire by diplomacy. Ancient historians provide different accounts of his negotiations with Alexander, which can be separated into three negotiation attempts, Justin, Arrian and Curtius Rufus write that Darius sent a letter to Alexander after the Battle of Issus. It demanded that he withdraw from Asia and release his prisoners, according to Curtius and Justin he offered a ransom for his prisoners, but Arrian does not mention a ransom. Curtius describes the tone of the letter as offensive, a second negotiation attempt took place after the capture of Tyre. Darius offered Alexander a marriage with his daughter Stateira II and all the territory west of the Halys River, Justin is less specific, not mentioning a specific daughter and speaking of a portion of Darius kingdom. Diodorus Siculus likewise mentions the offer of all territory west of the Halys River, a treaty of friendship, Diodorus is the only ancient historian who mentions that Alexander concealed this letter and presented his friends with a forged one favorable to his own interests. Darius started to prepare for another battle after the failure of the second negotiation attempt, even so, he made a third and final effort to negotiate after Alexanders departure from Egypt. Darius third offer was more generous. In the account of Diodorus, Alexander deliberated this offer with his friends, Parmenion was the only one who spoke up, saying, If I were Alexander, I should accept what was offered and make a treaty. Alexander reportedly replied, So should I, if I were Parmenion, Alexander again refused the offer of Darius, insisting that there could be only one king of Asia. He called on Darius to surrender to him or to him in battle to decide who was to be the sole king of Asia. The descriptions given by historians of the third negotiation attempt are similar to the account of Diodorus. Diodorus, Curtius and Arrian write that an embassy was sent instead of a letter, Plutarch and Arrian mention the ransom offered for the prisoners was 10,000 talents, but Diodorus, Curtius and Justin give a figure of 30,000

42.
Vienna
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Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austrias primary city, with a population of about 1.8 million, and its cultural, economic and it is the 7th-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union. Today, it has the second largest number of German speakers after Berlin, Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC. The city is located in the part of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia. These regions work together in a European Centrope border region, along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, apart from being regarded as the City of Music because of its musical legacy, Vienna is also said to be The City of Dreams because it was home to the worlds first psycho-analyst – Sigmund Freud. The citys roots lie in early Celtic and Roman settlements that transformed into a Medieval and Baroque city and it is well known for having played an essential role as a leading European music centre, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, Vienna is known for its high quality of life. In a 2005 study of 127 world cities, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the city first for the worlds most liveable cities, between 2011 and 2015, Vienna was ranked second, behind Melbourne, Australia. Monocles 2015 Quality of Life Survey ranked Vienna second on a list of the top 25 cities in the world to make a base within, the UN-Habitat has classified Vienna as being the most prosperous city in the world in 2012/2013. Vienna regularly hosts urban planning conferences and is used as a case study by urban planners. Between 2005 and 2010, Vienna was the worlds number-one destination for international congresses and it attracts over 3.7 million tourists a year. The English name Vienna is borrowed from the homonymous Italian version of the name or the French Vienne. The etymology of the name is still subject to scholarly dispute. Some claim that the name comes from Vedunia, meaning forest stream, which produced the Old High German Uuenia. A variant of this Celtic name could be preserved in the Czech and Slovak names of the city, the name of the city in Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian and Ottoman Turkish has a different, probably Slavonic origin, and originally referred to an Avar fort in the area. Slovene-speakers call the city Dunaj, which in other Central European Slavic languages means the Danube River, evidence has been found of continuous habitation since 500 BC, when the site of Vienna on the Danube River was settled by the Celts. In 15 BC, the Romans fortified the city they called Vindobona to guard the empire against Germanic tribes to the north

43.
Louis-Nicolas Davout
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Louis-Nicolas dAvout, better known as Davout, 1st Duke of Auerstaedt, 1st Prince of Eckmühl, was a French general who was Marshal of the Empire during the Napoleonic era. His talent for war along with his reputation as a stern disciplinarian earned him the title The Iron Marshal and he is ranked along with Masséna and Lannes as one of Napoleons finest commanders. His loyalty and obedience to Napoleon were absolute, during his lifetime, Davouts name was commonly spelled Davoust, which is how it appears on the Arc de Triomphe and in much of the correspondence between Napoleon and his generals. Davout was born at Annoux, the son of Jean-François dAvout and he was educated at a military academy in Auxerre, before transferring to the École Militaire in Paris on 29 September 1785. He graduated on 19 February 1788 and was appointed a sous-lieutenant in the Royal-Champagne Cavalry Regiment in garrison at Hesdin, on the outbreak of the French Revolution, he embraced its principles. He was chef de bataillon in a corps in the campaign of 1792. He had just been promoted to general of brigade when he was removed from the active list because of his noble birth and he nevertheless served in the campaigns of 1794-1797 on the Rhine, and accompanied Desaix in the Egyptian Expedition of Napoleon Bonaparte. Although on his return he did not take part in the Battle of Marengo, at the accession of Napoleon as emperor, Davout was one of the generals who were created marshals of France. Davout was the youngest and least experienced of the promoted to Marshal. As commander of the III Corps of the Grande Armée, Davout rendered his greatest services, at the Battle of Austerlitz, after a forced march of forty-eight hours, the III Corps bore the brunt of the allies attack. Historian François-Guy Hourtoulle writes, At Jena, Napoleon won a battle he could not lose, at Auerstädt, Davout won a battle he could not win. As a reward, Napoleon let Davout and his men enter first in Berlin on 25 October 1806, Davout added to his renown in the campaign of Eylau and Friedland. Napoleon left him as governor-general of the newly created Duchy of Warsaw following the Treaty of Tilsit of 1807, and the next year created him Duke of Auerstädt. In the war of 1809, Davout took part in the actions which culminated in the Battle of Eckmühl, and also distinguished himself in the Battle of Wagram and he was created Prince of Eckmühl following this campaign. He was entrusted by Napoleon with the task of organizing the corps of observation of the Elbe, during the retreat he conducted the rear guard, which was deemed too slow by the Emperor, and was replaced by Ney. His inability to hold out at Berezina until the arrival of Ney and his corps, led him into disgrace and he would not meet with the Emperor again until his return from Elba. During the siege, he expelled up to 25,000 of Hamburg’s poorest and weakest citizens out of the city into the winter, many of whom perished of cold. Between 1806 and 1814, when the French occupation came to an end by the surrender of Davout, Davouts military character has been interpreted as cruel, and he had to defend himself against many attacks upon his conduct at Hamburg

Louis XIV visits the Gobelins with Colbert, 15 October 1667. Tapestry from the series, "Histoire du roi" designed by Charles Le Brun and woven between 1667 and 1672. Articles of Louis XIV's silver furniture are seen in this tapestry.

The Russian Empire (Russian: Россійская Имперія) was an empire that existed from 1721, following the end of the Great …

Peter the Great officially renamed the Tsardom of Russia as the Russian Empire in 1721 and became its first emperor. He instituted sweeping reforms and oversaw the transformation of Russia into a major European power.